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Yeukai Karengezeka Court Correspondent

A real estate agent was brought before the courts for allegedly deceiving three people of US$16 670 purporting that he was selling residential stands in Nyabira.

Godwin Khulame (29) who is facing fraud charges appeared before Harare Magistrate Mrs Ethel Chichera.

He is in custody pending bail outcome.

The complainants are Clementine Chengetai Nehumba (34), Maybe Masaiti (60), Fatima Ururu (39) and Clive Masawi (33).

It is the State’s case that sometime in August last year, Khulame placed advertisements on Facebook and WhatsApp groups that he was selling serviced residential stands in Nyabira measuring 300 square metres.

The complainants saw the advertisements and contacted the accused who then directed them to his office.

Khulame took them to Nyabira where he showed them some serviced residential stands and misrepresented that they were available for sale at US$10 200 each payable in US$1000 deposit upfront and US$170 monthly instalments.

The unsuspecting complainants got interested in the stands and each one of them paid US$3 380, US$8000, US$1500 and US$3 790 respectively and were given receipts.

Since then, Khulame became evasive and the complainants later discovered that the land which they bought belonged to Devine Aid Trust Company (DATCO).

They visited DATCO seeking clarity on the ownership of the stands and the company confirmed that they owned the stands and disassociated themselves from Khulame and his transactions.

The company official advised them that they had been duped.

This prompted the complainants to file police reports.

The total value defrauded is US$16 670 and nothing was recovered.