Cllr
Mutangi’s
co-accused,
Janet
Zhou,
will
perform
450
hours
of
community
service
at
Cowdray
Park
police
station
for
the
same
charges.
Bulawayo
Provincial
Magistrate,
Richard
Ramaboea,
sentenced
the
pair
to
a
total
of
40
months
in
prison,
and
suspended
two
months
from
each
count
on
condition
that
they
restitute
all
the
victims
in
full
by
February
27.
The
remaining
14
months
were
commuted
to
community
service
for
each
of
them.
Mutangi
and
Zhou
were
convicted
on
13
counts
of
fraud
last
week,
after
they
swindled
local
vendors
of
money
by
falsely
promising
them
vending
bays.
The
pair,
who
had
denied
the
charges,
was
found
guilty
by
the
court.
Magistrate
Ramaboea
ruled
that
the
vendors
had
only
handed
over
their
money
because
they
were
assured
of
legal
vending
bays
that
would
allow
them
to
trade
without
running
from
municipal
police,
but
Mutangi
and
Zhou
instead
defrauded
them.
He
said
receipt
books
produced
in
court
and
the
constitution
of
their
purported
Bulawayo
Achievers
Association
were
part
of
a
ploy
to
evade
the
charges.
In
mitigation,
their
lawyer,
Constance
Mathaba
of
Makiye
and
Partners, submitted
that
Mutangi
was
a
first-time
offender
who
had
learnt
from
the
experience
and
was
prepared
to
compensate
the
complainants.
She
said
the
extensive
media
coverage
of
the
case
had
already
caused
him
significant
embarrassment
and
that
he
would
not
want
to
repeat
such
conduct.
“The
accused
has
never
broken
the
law
until
now.
He
is
also
willing
to
restitute
the
complainants
their
money.
For
a
person
of
his
standing,
he
has
learnt
his
lesson,”
she
said,
adding
that
the
public
scrutiny
surrounding
the
case
had
been
punitive
in
itself.