Two Harare bogus lawyers have been jailed for forging names of High Court judges and personnel from the Attorney-General (AG)’s Office to facilitate the release of eight armed robbers in a well-orchestrated scam.
David Mwanjeya and George Simbi appeared before Harare Magistrate Lazarus Murendo who slapped them with effective jail terms of 16 and 20 years respectively. The magistrate suspended eight and four years of their 24-year jail terms.
The fictitious legal practitioners caused a furore within the judicial system and the police when they released some of the most dangerous criminals using forged bail release orders.
The two men were convicted last month on a charge of forgery for releasing armed robbers who then escaped the jurisdiction of the courts.
Magistrate Murendo said: “Where an individual interest comes into conflict with public interest then the public interest should be of paramount consideration. The offence was carefully planned and there was a determination of purpose.
“Because of their actions, dangerous criminals were released from prison and as such, endangered the lives of the ordinary people. The seriousness of their action should be reflected in the sentence that the court should mete out.”
The mastermind of the scam, Simbi, is already serving another 14-year jail term for a different offence. The AG’s representative Beaven Murevanhema proved that sometime in October 2009, Mwanjeya and Simbi connived and manufactured fictitious bail release orders in respect of Arnold Kwarira, Sheperd Mhizha, Fanuel Muchineripi, Enerst Chikate, Tawanda Mandudzo, Brighton Chagara, Clever Nengomasha and Emmson Mutevera.
This was after Simbi obtained and used a genuine bail release order issued to Cainmore Ngorima as a specimen and a forged High Court date stamp.
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Acting in common purpose with Mwanjeya, the two visited Chikurubi Maximum Prison where they collected information from the criminals.
Armed with the information, they approached the criminals’ relatives and demanded cash ranging from $100 to $1 000, a generator and a blanket after convincing them they would facilitate the release of the robbers.
Using House Number 6675 Western Triangle as an office, Mwanjeya and Simbi created fake copies of bail release orders in respect of their clients, signed and date-stamped them and issued them to the relatives for payment of bail.
The relatives took the fake documents and managed to pay bail at the Harare Magistrates’ Courts, causing the release of the eight robbers from Chikurubi Maximum Prison.
Acting on a tip-off, police detectives carried out investigations and arrested Simbi at Machipisa Shopping Centre. Simbi was found with a fake date stamp tucked in his socks and a bail release order in the name of Ngorima.
Upon his arrest, he led the police to Mwanjeya who was also arrested. The police then tracked and re-arrested Kwarira and Chikate. The other six robbers are still at large and remain on the police list of most wanted criminals.
