Mbare couple flees with lobola
By Farayi Machamire
A daring Mbare couple has left a Kuwadzana man heart-broken and ruined after they connived to fake being brother and sister before luring him to fall in love with the supposed sister.
The Harare man went on to pay lobola amounting to $3 000 after a year of dating while the supposed brother, who was in fact the husband, presided over the marriage process.
The couple who fled with the lobola and other benefits accrued from their sham activities appeared before Harare magistrate Victoria Mashamba facing charges of fraud.
Brain Nhkhatazo Mathe, 30, and Lydia Mathe, 22, were denied bail when they appeared before Harare magistrate Mashamba facing charges of fraud.
It is the State’s case that sometime in February 2016 the Mbare pair hatched a plan to steal from the complainant, Nyakanyaka Msipani of Kuwadzana.
The wife, using the alias Stephenie Pullen, is said to have opened a Facebook account which she used to lure the complainant to fall in love with her.
“The accused person later met with the complainant. Accused number two (Pullen) then introduced accused number one (Mathe) as her brother,” said prosecutor Audrey Chogumai.
“The complainant was told by the accused that their parents had passed on some years back and only her brother who is accused number one could stand in the position of the in-laws.”
The complainant is said to have then proceeded to pay lobola amounting to $3 000 to the said brother through a bank transfer in March 2017 with Mathe presiding over the marriage process.
Mathe promised to escort his wife to her new husband after a week, the court heard.
“After two weeks of waiting the complainant’s wife did not show up and instead he received a phone call advising him that his wife had fallen ill and was in urgent need of medical attention,” Chogumai said.
The court further heard that the complainant subsequently sent his ATM card with his pin number with his instructions to withdraw $100 only but the accused went to withdraw $589.
It is further alleged that the accused were said to have then requested for groceries from the complainant who obliged but was to regret it as the accused “disappeared” with the complainant’s ATM card which had a balance of $440.
“The accused person then switched off their cellphones which they had used to communicate with the complainant,” Chogumai said.
“The complainant later came across Mathe in Harare central business district and he ran away from him and that is when he realised that he had been defrauded …”
He later made a police report leading to the duo’s arrest. Daily News
