adminMasum Ahmed her late husband Steven Darell’s death certificate and a copy of her national identity card.
Ahmed used the particulars to acquire a Zimbabwean birth certificate, identity card, passport and driver’s licence purporting to be Darell’s son.
Darell pleaded not guilty to contravening section 36 of the Immigration Act when she appeared before Harare magistrate Mr Donald Ndirowei.
The Act prohibits “Assisting any person whether or not he or she is dolicapax (intention to commit a crime) to enter or remain or depart from Zimbabwe”.
Mr Ndirowei remanded Darell to December 4 for continuation of trial.
In her defence, Darell said she was duped.
Earlier on, Ahmed told the court that Darell gave him the documents twice; when he first acquired his identity particulars and when he wanted to replace them after they were lost.
“I was a friend to her family and that is how I met her before she assisted me in obtaining the documents.
“She used to come to my shop and sometime we would meet in town,” he said.
Principal immigration officer Mr Godfrey Kondo said Darell told him she conceived Ahmed after a one-night stand with an Indian man.
“The documents were fraudulently acquired and when we interviewed Ahmed, he revealed his real name. When we visited Darell at her residence in Acardia, she told us she had several children in New Zealand, South Africa, United Kingdom and another in Waterfalls.
“In that aspect, she was referring to Ahmed,” he said.
Prosecutor Mr Nyikadzino Machingura alleges that sometime in January 2006, Ahmed arrived in Zimbabwe on an immigration temporary employment permit.
The permit, it is alleged, allowed him to stay in the country for a year until it expired on December 30, 2006.
Sometime in October 2009, Darell allegedly gave Ahmed a copy of her late husband’s death certificate and a copy of her national identity card for him to acquire the particulars as her own son.
Mr Machingura said Ahmed managed to acquire a Zimbabwean passport, a national identity card thus becoming a Zimbabwean by birth yet his stay was already unlawful.
Ahmed obtained the particulars and assumed the name Raj Darell, it is alleged.
An operation was conducted by the immigration department to check on foreigners’ compliance with the law, leading to Ahmed’s arrest.
During interrogation, Ahmed implicated Darell.
He was found in possession of a Zimbabwean birth certificate, identity card, passport, driver’s licence and a Bangladesh passport number 038412 at his residence in Waterfalls.
Online Reporter