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Tendai Gukutikwa Weekender Correspondent
A SELF-STYLED prophet from Dangamvura’s Gimboki Housing Project was fined $100 after he was convicted of ordering his client to surrender her cellphone to him after threatening her that she would die if she kept receiving calls on the phone.
Tichaona Zimhondi (27) popularly known as Madzibaba Ishmael risks three months imprisonment if he fails to raise the $100 fine.
Zimhondi pleaded guilty to fraud when he appeared before senior Mutare magistrate, Mr Langton Mukwengi last Saturday.
Mr Matthew Chimutunga prosecuted.
Allegations were that on September 21, Agnes Finhai went to Zimhondi’s shrine in Gimboki for prayers.
Zimhondi is alleged to have prophesied that Finhai was about to be tempted into the dark world through her Samsung Galaxy Star cellphone which she was in possession of.
He went on to tell her that she was going to receive a call from someone and once she picked the call, she would die instantly.
“The prophet then advised the complainant to leave her cellphone behind to enable him to destroy it in a calabash to which the latter complied.
“The complainant, however, made some consultations about the prophecy and was advised by the prophet’s former clients that she had been duped.
“On September 22, the complainant went back to the shrine and demanded her cellphone back, but was advised that the phone had already been burnt to cast away the evil spirits that were pestering her,” said Mr Chimutunga.
The complainant persisted to have her phone back resulting in Zimhondi admitting that he had not burnt it, but had converted it to his own use.
It was further alleged that he gave the complainant his own Samsung 5301 cellphone as replacement.
He also promised her that he would give her an original cell phone three days later. He, however, reneged on his promise and a police report was made.
Online Reporter