News / National
Prophet arrested for impersonating a police officer
25 Feb 2013 at 07:50hrs | Views
A HARARE-BASED self-styled prophet charged with impersonating a police officer left the Victoria Falls court in stitches on Friday last week after he claimed that he was given a police uniform as payment for exorcising evil spirits from a member of the Police Support Unit.
Tavengwa Jichichi (32) of House number 1242, Coulbrough North, Harare, was convicted by the Victoria Falls resident magistrate, Mr Archibald Dingana, on his own plea of guilty to contravening Section 179(1) of the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act Chapter 9:23, (impersonating a police officer).
Jichichi was sentenced to pay a fine of $100 and in default of payment, 30 days imprisonment. The police uniform was forfeited to the State.
When asked by the magistrate in mitigation on why he committed the offence, the accused said that he was a prophet and was given the full police kit as payment for services rendered by his client who is a police officer from whom he had cast out an evil spell.
"Your worship, I am a prophet and this uniform was given to me by a police officer as payment. I had exorcised evil spirits from the officer," he said to the glee of members of the public who were in the court gallery.
It was the State case as presented by the prosecutor, Miss Namatirayi Ngwasha, that on 14 February, the accused dressed in full police uniform masqueraded as a police officer and then boarded an Extra City Bus from Harare free of charge.
The accused disembarked at the Victoria Falls airport and proceeded to see a relative who stays in the airport compound. On Monday 18 February, the accused again put on a full police uniform and travelled for free to Victoria Falls.
While the accused was coming out of OK supermarket, he was approached by two alert Support Unit officers who had become suspicious of his dress code. The accused was in full Support Unit combat serve for the lanyard which was supposed to identify his troop.
The officers noted that the accused did not have a police identity card and did not even know his force number. The accused was taken to the police station and police uniform consisting of two riot trousers, one grey shirt, one pair size six black boots, one webbing belt, one green shirt and a blue lanyard were recovered.
Tavengwa Jichichi (32) of House number 1242, Coulbrough North, Harare, was convicted by the Victoria Falls resident magistrate, Mr Archibald Dingana, on his own plea of guilty to contravening Section 179(1) of the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act Chapter 9:23, (impersonating a police officer).
Jichichi was sentenced to pay a fine of $100 and in default of payment, 30 days imprisonment. The police uniform was forfeited to the State.
When asked by the magistrate in mitigation on why he committed the offence, the accused said that he was a prophet and was given the full police kit as payment for services rendered by his client who is a police officer from whom he had cast out an evil spell.
"Your worship, I am a prophet and this uniform was given to me by a police officer as payment. I had exorcised evil spirits from the officer," he said to the glee of members of the public who were in the court gallery.
It was the State case as presented by the prosecutor, Miss Namatirayi Ngwasha, that on 14 February, the accused dressed in full police uniform masqueraded as a police officer and then boarded an Extra City Bus from Harare free of charge.
The accused disembarked at the Victoria Falls airport and proceeded to see a relative who stays in the airport compound. On Monday 18 February, the accused again put on a full police uniform and travelled for free to Victoria Falls.
While the accused was coming out of OK supermarket, he was approached by two alert Support Unit officers who had become suspicious of his dress code. The accused was in full Support Unit combat serve for the lanyard which was supposed to identify his troop.
The officers noted that the accused did not have a police identity card and did not even know his force number. The accused was taken to the police station and police uniform consisting of two riot trousers, one grey shirt, one pair size six black boots, one webbing belt, one green shirt and a blue lanyard were recovered.
Source - news
