Harare
magistrate Lisa Mutendereki ordered Muringi to perform community service at
Marlbereign Police Station.
A warrant for his arrest was issued after he allegedly defaulted performing the community service. A default inquiry is currently underway and is set to resume today.
Muringi’s
troubles started when he sold a car to businessman Patrick ‘Chimpa’ Mutenha.
It was
established by the court that the vehicle was not supposed to be sold as
Muringi had only been granted temporary access to the car.
In her
judgment, Magistrate Mutendereki said:
“The court
wasn’t there to look at the agreement of sale in the strictest sense but it had
occasion to go through the court order and the terms of the court order had to
be read holistically to establish the intention of its issuance.
“The car was
subject to a criminal case that was ongoing, he (Muringi) was granted temporary
use of the vehicle and it was to be made available if needed without disposing
of it.
“The intention
was that even though the accused was granted access to the vehicle he was
supposed to keep it and by selling the vehicle he would have breached the order
as he wouldn’t then be able to produce it upon demand by the court.
“Was the
vehicle going to be available upon demand after being sold?
“No, so it’s
the court’s finding that he was in breach of the order as he knew that he was
supposed to be in possession of the car at all material times.”
On August 4
last year, Muringi was arrested for fraud and money laundering resulting in his
white Toyota Hilux double cab registration number AGE 2352 being impounded and
held at CID CCD as an exhibit.
The matter was
referred to Harare Magistrates Court for prosecution and he later applied for
the release of the car.
On December 18,
the Provincial Magistrate granted an order for the release of the motor vehicle
from police custody to Muringi.But, this was on condition that he would produce
the vehicle upon request by the State.
He was also
ordered not to dispose of the vehicle in any way pending the finalisation of
the matter.
On December 20,
Muringi sold the car to Chimpa for US$50 000, he signed an agreement of sale
and never disclosed the status of the vehicle to the complainant.
Muringi then
hatched a plan to recover the vehicle from Chimpa and reported a matter of
theft involving the vehicle.
Chimpa was
arrested by the Vehicle Theft Squad. During the course of the investigation,
the status of the car was established.
The car remains
impounded as an exhibit. H Metro
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