A BULAWAYO company Bioaquvitae is in trouble after it allegedly duped four residents and one Umguza villager and collected over $17 000 on the pretext it was going to drill and install boreholes at their premises.
BY SILAS NKALA
On Monday, the company’s employee Duncan Chihota appeared before Bulawayo magistrate Merilyn Mutshina facing five counts of fraud and was denying the charges.
The court heard that sometime in September 2014, Chihota was engaged by Tafadzwa Nyamaharo of Rederal House in Bulawayo to drill and install a borehole at Gokwe Business Centre.
Chihota charged $4 950 for the services which he was paid in full on September 19, 2015 where he allegedly promised to finish the job within three weeks, but failed to carry out the project.
Coleen Madava of Cleeve Road Montrose Bulawayo later also contracted Chihota to drill a borehole at his residence for $2 250.
Madava allegedly made an initial payment of $2 000 and paid the balance four days later after Chihota insisted on full payment.
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Chihota allegedly failed to drill the borehole and kept on making false promises.
Using the same modus operandi, Chihota on October 1, 2014 received $1 000 from Kennan Moyo of Teakdale, Umguza for drilling of a borehole.
He allegedly bought some materials to use but remained with them and kept on promising to do the job to no avail.
He later demanded payment of the remaining $700 and became evasive after receiving the money.
It is the State case that Chihota also collected $3 000 from Busani Ndlovu of Cowdry Park on December 13, 2014 after he was subcontracted by Mkhululi Zikhali to drill and install a borehole at Ndlovu’s house.
He allegedly started drilling, but never completed the job.
Sipho Gumpo of Mahogany Newtown West Bulawayo also fell victim to Chihota’s trickery and allegedly lost $5 900.
The complainants later separately reported the fraud to the police, leading to Chihota’s arrest on September 23 2015. Chihota, however, denied the charges and was remanded to today for continuation of trial.
