Tendai Gukutikwa
A MUTARE lecturer who allegedly duped a colleague of his mobile phone and later assaulted him was hauled before the courts on theft and assault charges.
Simbarashe Zeka Jack (40) appeared before Mutare magistrate, Mr Innocent Bepura last Wednesday. Jack who was being represented by Mrs Ndafa Muchanyara of Pundu and Company Legal Practitioners denied both counts.
The matter goes for trial on April 10.
Mr Fletcher Karombe prosecuted.
It was alleged that on March 16 in the college’s staff room, Jack sold a Nokia Asher 303 to Odee Chinyama, a fellow lecturer at the same college.
He sold it for $35 and Chinyama paid it in full. “Chinyama, however, later found out on the same day that the phone he had bought was malfunctioning. It could not even make calls. He approached Jack and told him that the phone was not working. He then claimed his $35,” said Mr Karombe.
Jack is alleged to have taken the phone and refused to give Chinyama back his money.
He further slapped Chinyama three times and told him that he was not going to give him back his money.
Chinyama, however, did not sustain visible injuries from the assault and he is yet to recover the $35.