PROSECUTOR FORGES BOSS SIGNATURE, KILLS CASE

A PROSECUTOR from Bulawayo Magistrates’ Court has been arrested for allegedly forging his boss’ signature.

Malvern Nzombe (31) allegedly forged the prosecutor in charge, Mr Whisper Mabhaudi’s signature to decline prosecution in an extortion case between January and March last year.

The alleged extortion case involved police officers from Minerals and Border Control Unit who allegedly had some shady dealings with the accused.

Nzombe last Thursday appeared before Western Commonage magistrate Mr Lungile Ncube facing abuse of duty as a public officer and fraud and forgery charges. He pleaded not guilty and was remanded out of custody to November 9 for trial.

“You will be out of custody on condition that you submit your passport to the clerk of court; you will not interfere with state witnesses and you must report to Tshabalala police station every Friday,” Mr Ncube said.

Prosecuting, Ms Margret Takawira said Nzombe, while on duty, pretended to be Mr Mabhaudi and declined to prosecute an extortion case that was brought to him.
Nzombe’s duty, the court heard, was to assess criminal dockets for transmission to different courts for prosecution. He, however, declined to transfer the docket in question to the rightful court for prosecution.

“Between January and March 2016, the accused, in violation of his duty, intentionally misrepresented himself as the prosecutor in charge at the Set Down office and endorsed on an extortion docket that the state had declined to prosecute the matter,” Ms Takawira said.

“To cover the fraudulently endorsed decision, the accused forged the signature of Mr Mabhaudi ‘W Mabhaudi’ on the docket cover, ZRP form 17 and entry 16 purporting that the entries on the docket were made by Mr Whisper Mabhaudi.”

She said the investigating officer became suspicious and confronted Mr Mabhaudi, who denied having signed such a docket.

“During investigations, the disputed signature and hand writing samples were obtained from prosecutors and other suspects inclusive of the accused person. They were referred to a questioned document examiner, forensic science laboratory office of the criminal investigations department for examination and analysis,” said Ms Takawira.

She said the results linked Nzombe’s handwriting to the forged signature and a report of the findings would be produced as evidence in court. chronicle

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