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Sheillah Mapani Herald Reporter
A True Vine Church Ministries pastor yesterday appeared in court for stealing a cellphone belonging to a congregant from the church office. Mcdonald Svinurai appeared before Harare magistrate Ms Rumbidzai Dzumbira, facing theft charges. He pleaded guilty and was remanded in custody to today for sentence. Prosecutor Benjamin Chikerema proved that on November 17 this year, Mobile Sande gave Svinurai some office keys so that he could collect his goods from the church office. Svinurai then stole Sande’s Iphone c5 valued at $1 200 and brought back the keys. He did not lock the door to cover up the act.

The matter was reported to the police, leading to Svinurai’s arrest and he confessed to stealing the cellphone, but it was not recovered. In mitigation, Svinurai begged the court to be lenient with him since he was a pastor at True Vine Church Ministries and a first time offender.

He also pleaded with the court that he should be allowed to apologise to Sande and to replace his cellphone while out of custody. On aggravation, the State indicated that Svinurai had committed a serious offence and as a pastor, he was supposed to be a role model, not a thief.

The State further noted that people were losing their properties to such kind of dubious pastors, hence there was a need for the court to send a clear message to other pastors by giving Svinurai a custodial sentence to show that theft was a punishable offence.