By Court Reporter Mary Taruvinga

A 26-year-old Harare woman has been jailed 15 months after she was convicted of forging Ordinary Level results in a bid to be enrolled as a student nurse at Parirenyatwa Hospital.

Esthery Kalenga will however spend an effective 10 months effective after Harare magistrate Nyasha Vhitorini suspended five months of the sentence on conditions.

The mother of two brought business to a standstill soon after her sentence was handed down as she wailed together with her mother who was in the gallery.

She protested against custodial sentence pleading with the magistrate to be lenient.

Their screams pierced through the building attracting the attention of people who were at Rotten Row magistrate’s court.

Magistrate Vhitorini said it was unfortunate that he could not review his judgement.

He said a short custodial sentence will be a lesson to would-be offenders since such offences were on the rise.

Kalenga pleaded guilty to the charges saying she committed the offence in order to raise her two children.

Prosecuting, Netsai Mushayabasa told the court that Kalenga committed the offence in 2016 after Parirenyatwa Hospital advertised that it wanted trainee nurses.

She responded to the advert and submitted a fake Ordinary Level certificate bearing seven passes.

The requirements were for five Ordinary level passes with a Grade C or better and candidates were also required to have a pass in English and at least one Science subject.

The hospital acted on Kalenga’s misrepresentation and enrolled her as a trainee nurse.

However, Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission got wind of the scam and tracked Kalenga down.

Court heard the certificate was recovered and sent to Zimbabwe Schools Examinations Council (ZIMSEC) were it was confirmed to be fake.

Kalenga was subsequently arrested.