By Bright Zhou
A 28-year-old man from Rujeko C, Masvingo appeared before Masvingo Magistrate Court Ivy Jaona for paying a tollgate fee using fake money.
Preference Chihumura was remanded out of custody waiting for continuation of trial on June 17, 2024.
It is the state’s case as presented by Prosecutor Nobuhle Moyo that on November 2, 2023 at around 1100 hours Chihumura approached the Lothiam Tollgate along the Mutare-Masvingo road on his way to Zaka.
Chihumura gave a US$10 fake note to the Zimbabwe National Roads Administration (ZINARA) officer as payment for the tollgate fee.
The ZINARA officer then suspected that the US$10 was fake money, and Chihumura was requested by the officer to park his vehicle aside for further verification.
Upon confirming that the money was fake, the ZINARA officer then handed over Chihumura to police officers who were at the tollgate who further handed him over to the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) Masvingo for further investigations.
CID detectives then found out that the US$10 was fake and Chihumura was arrested.
In his defence, Chihumura told the court that the the money he used to pay for the tollgate was not his as he had borrowed a sum of US$200 to add on to his lobola money he was going to pay in Zaka on the day.
“The money I used to pay for the tollgate was not mine as I had borrowed US$200 from a colleague, a storekeeper at Rujeko C business center so that I could add onto my lobola money. I was shocked to be told by a ZINARA officer that the money was fake,” said Chihumura .
