Woman fakes aunt's death to con burial society

A Gwanda woman left residents shell shocked after she faked her aunt's death in order to get money from a burial society.

Tryphine Moyo from Jahunda Township was dragged to court by members of Sibambene Burial Society after she tricked them into paying her $500 for her aunt's purported burial.

She even presented a fake death certificate to authenticate her claim.

Gwanda Magistrate Sheila Nazombe Moyo sentenced her to six months in prison for the offence, which is a cultural taboo in African culture.

She pleaded guilty to the offence and in mitigation, told the court that she was trying to save her job after allegedly misappropriating her boss' cash.

"I committed the offence so that I could replace cash belonging to my boss that had disappeared in my house. I was afraid I would lose my job," said Moyo.

The magistrate sentenced her to nine months in prison of which three were suspended on condition of good behaviour.

Nazombe urged Moyo to be honest.  

"The offense is serious because you showed a high degree of dishonesty. You lied to the burial society about the death and even went further to present to the society a fake death certificate.

"The burial society is there to cater for genuinely bereaved families in their times of need. How would it be if there are many people like you?" asked Nazombe.

The fake death certificate was recovered and forfeited to the State.

Prosecuting, Jefta Nyikadzinashe told how early last year, Moyo approached her burial society pretending she had lost an aunt, Maita Maponda, so as to get financial benefits. It is said that after about 10 months, burial society members demanded a death certificate and she allegedly went on to produce a counterfeit document, prosecutors said.  

Moyo ran out of luck when members of the burial society suspected that the document was a fake and reported the matter to the police, leading to her arrest.