FRAUDSTER FACES 60 COUNTS OF OBTAINING BY FALSE PRETENSE
A school bus driver who defrauded parents of the children he was transporting to school of P116 000 has been nabbed.
For two years, 41- year-old Sam Nyakutira from Zimbabwe tricked gullible parents at Newtown International School to give him their hard earned cash to pay school fees for them.
It is alleged he obtained the money on the pretense that as an employee of the school he was entitled to pay fees at a discounted rate, a statement he knew to be false.
However after obtaining the money and spending it, he would submit forged Stanbic Bank deposit slip with a stamp to the school accounts officer knowing the same to be false.
The offences were allegedly committed between 2017 and 2018 but Nyakutira was only caught last week Friday after a thorough audit of the school bank account revealed that the bank deposits slips were fake.
He appeared in court on Monday facing 60 counts of obtaining by false pretenses and uttering a false document.
When asked if he had anything to say, Nyakutira’s attorney, Kebonyemodisa told the magistrate that he was going to apply for bail at the next mention.
State Prosecutor Inspector Alexander Phale pleaded with court not to grant the accused bail. He said they were yet to establish who at the bank was working with Nyakutira giving him stamped deposit slip knowing full well that the money was not deposited in the school account.
“We fear that should he be granted bail, he would likely temper with the police investigations. The offences occurred about three years ago but arrest was made this Friday so we are still at an initial stage of inquiries. More charges are likely to be added hence why the plea is reserved. His passport is not in order, it was last used in 2013, and there are few things we are investigating to find out if it is still in use. We are yet to take it to immigration for further investigations and therefore need more time,” said Phale
Village Magistrate Mokgoro agreed to give prosecution more time to investigate the matter. He ordered that Nyakutira be remanded in custody to be brought back to court on the 14th of December for mention.
