A NURSE who forged a doctor’s signature to sign a bogus medical report later used in evidence in court has been spared jail.
Jacob Chiweshe, 35, admitted the fraud on Monday as the trial of two Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) security guards charged with assaulting Munyaradzi Kereke’s driver appeared to unravel.
Chiweshe, through his lawyer, told Harare magistrate Faith Mashure that Kereke’s driver – Privilege Maturure – had come to him on March 12 with a ready prepared medical report of his purported injuries.
He claimed he was asked him to impersonate his brother-in-law, Dr Johannes Marisa, after being promised a cut of the compensation claim that would follow a conviction.
The nurse – who has since been sacked from his job at Parirenyatwa – signed the medical report as Marisa, and it was later used to put RBZ security guards Phillip Dendere, 47, and George Nyahuye, 36, in the dock.
Magistrate Mashure slapped Chiweshe with a seven-month jail term, but conditionally suspended two months for good behaviour.
The remaining five months were further suspended on condition he completes 175 hours of community service at Tafara Primary School.
Maturure and his uncle, Brian Matonsi, have also been arrested and await prosecution for their part in the fraud.
Prosecutors must now make a decision whether to continue their pursuit of Nyahuye and Dendere with their only proof of the alleged injuries to Maturure now revealed to be a fraud.