The Chronicle

BULAWAYO, Friday, January 8, 1993—A NIGERIAN national who fraudulently used someone else’s credit cards to buy goods worth more than $4 000 from several shops in Zimbabwe was sentenced to threeand-a half years in prison by a Bulawayo magistrate yesterday.

Nixon Ekhator (25) pleaded guilty to 11 months of fraud before Mr Emmanuel Magate. One year of his sentence was conditionally suspended for five years.

In passing sentence, Mr Magate had taken into consideration that Ekhator was a foreign national and had committed the offence away from his home. He said this was a premeditated crime because Ekhator had professionally practiced the signatures on the cards.

The prosecutor, Mr Alec Muchadehama, told the court that Ekhator used three credit cards belonging to a Mr Tomm Kristiansen.

Between October 20 and November 3, Ekhator used the cards to buy goods worth $4 847,08 from 10 shops in Mutare, Harare and Bulawayo.

On November 3, he bought an airline ticket to Harare at Mitchell Cotts Travel Agency in Bulawayo, using the cards.

One of the agency consultants became suspicious of his behaviour and consulted the Barclays Bank visa clearance department in Harare.

She was advised to confiscate the credit card and retain the airline ticket.

Ekhator managed to escape with the airline ticket and was subsequently arrested at the Bulawayo Airport.

On his arrest, he was found with sales vouchers for all the items he had bought using the credit cards. It was, however, not said how he had acquired the credit cards. Property worth $3 030 was recovered.