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Prosper Dembedza

Herald Correspondent

A bishop at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints allegedly lost US$32 600 to a diesel plant fitter in a botched earth moving machine deal.

Waziri Ramajan was facing theft charges when he appeared before Harare magistrate Mrs Ruth Moyo yesterday.

It is the State’s case that in 2008, the complainant gave Ramajan a case front end loader machine to repair since it was non-running.

On the instruction of accused, the complainant bought one drum of hydraulic oil for US$ 1 000, one drum of engine oil for US$1 000, two heavy duty batteries for US$600, four brand new tyres for US$ 6 000 and above all he paid US$4 000 for labour.

The court heard that instead of fixing the front end loader and return it to the complainant, Ramajan sold it and failed to handover the accessories bought on his instruction.

The complainant discovered the offence on December 9, 2022, when he went to collect his machine after making numerous visits which were fruitless. The machine was no longer in the workshop and the complainant made a report to police.

Police investigations conducted failed to locate all the properties listed.

According to the State, the complainant suffered a prejudice of US$32 600 due to accused’s actions.