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Court Reporter
The High Court has deferred to next month the hearing of an urgent application by a Mutare housing developer, Dreamoss Investments Investment (Private) Limited seeking to evict musician-cum-businessman Energy Mutodi from Gimboki South Housing Project in Dangamvura.

Justice Happias Zhou deferred the matter to December 3 after Mutodi’s lawyer Advocate Fred Gijima sought a postponement to allow him to file heads of argument. Dreamoss Investments Investment filed an urgent application for spoliation against Mutodi, seeking to have the construction site restored to it.

The firm wants an order evicting Mutodi and removal of their equipment from the construction site until the matter is finalised.
In its documents filed at the High Court last week, Dreamoss Investments claimed that it entered into a housing development contact with a Mutare housing consortium to mobilise funding and be in charge of the construction works on the site. Following his arrest on fraud involving US$6 million, Dreamoss Investments asked Mutodi to vacate the construction site, but he refused.

He said in an attempt to build his defence for the pending trial, Mutodi allegedly brought a grader and other equipment to the site purporting to work on the site. The firm feels Mutodi’s presence at the site would create confusion that would lead members of his housing consortium to stop payment of their monthly subscriptions to the detriment of the project. Through his lawyer, Mutodi argues that the spoliation order sought against him was futile in that the firm has failed to establish a strong case for the court to grant the relief sought.

“There is no factual evidence of spoliation provided by the applicant, save for the bare averments,” said Adv Gijima.
“The court needs not to even have its time wasted any further by going into the merits and dismiss the application on the basis that there is no urgency.”

Mutodi is facing charges of fraud at the magistrates’ court after he allegedly swindled desperate home seekers in Harare of more than US$6 million.

He is facing similar charges in Mutare where he is alleged to have duped home seekers of close to US$2 million.
Mutodi is out of custody on US$2 000 bail and was ordered to surrender his travel documents as part of the bail conditions.