A COUPLE from Sunninghill suburb in Bulawayo that was recently arrested, before appearing in court facing charges of fraud and was later granted bail has been re-arrested facing fresh charges.
The pair was arrested for fraud after being accused of hoodwinking hundreds of people of an estimated US$100 000.
Melusi Ndlovu (36) and his wife Gwendoline Ndlovu (35) reportedly posed as agents who could secure people with work permits and jobs in Canada, United Kingdom and Ireland.
They appeared before Bulawayo magistrate Ms Nomagugu Maphosa, who granted them $100 000 bail each with conditions.
Miss Tsungi Mutapi presented the case for the State. They were set to appear in court on 22 May but have been rearrested are set to appear in court again tomorrow.
The Bonnie and Clyde faces accusations of misrepresenting themselves as agents of International English Language Testing System (IELTS), where they claimed they could facilitate the migration of Zimbabweans to the United Kingdom.
Circumstances are that the pair misrepresented themselves as agents of IELTS, swindling at least 100 people of varied amounts of money amounting to an estimated US$100 000.The case according to the State emanates from August 2022.
According to the State’s case the pair posed as agents of a company that deals in securing jobs, work permits and processing of travel documents for people who wanted to work in Canada, the United Kingdom and Ireland.
“The couple was approached by eight people from Bulawayo on different dates and who were told to pay US$ 4 000 each in order to get the services. The victims paid fractions of the US$4 000 and payment plans were made since they could not raise the full amount,” read court documents as presented by Miss Mutapi.
The complainants are alleged to have been interviewed on different occasions through WhatsApp video and audio calls by a male person who purported to be working with the accused persons and they were told that they had passed.
“They were then given periods ranging from two to three weeks from the date of interviews that their processes were going to be ready for them to go to their respective destinations,” she said.
Miss Mutapi said the couple then became evasive as they failed to meet their obligations.
“The accused persons started giving complainants different reasons till they were under pressure and decided to vacate their known office without notice. On the 3 May 2023, one of the complainants was informed that the accused persons were vacating their office and ferrying their property from it. She quickly went there and found them loading the property into a vehicle.
“She phoned the police, who then arrested Melusi. Gwendoline was also arrested on the same day at Bulawayo Central Hospital.,” she said.
Miss Mutapi said there have been more cases that have been received, following their arrest.
Source: bulawayo24
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