A court in Lilongwe has sentenced a man to six years imprisonment for selling a plot which he claimed to own.
The man, Chisoni Dzinkambani, was found guilty of uttering false documents, making false documents and obtaining money by false pretence.
The court through police prosecutor Florence Moyo heard that Dzinkambani sold a plot of land to Bester Banda using false documents.
The plot belongs to Grace Muloza but Dzinkambani claimed it was his.
Moyo disclosed that the fraudster sold the plot at K5 million and received a sum of K4,570,000 in November 2016.
The prosecutor further disclosed that Banda realized that he was duped in May, 2017 when he was constructing a house on the plot and was approached by Muloza.
Following the revelation, Dzinkambani was caught by Kanengo Police in July.
In his mitigation, Dzinkambani pleaded with the court to be lenient with him in passing the penalty considering the fact that he is first offender but the prosecutor told the court to give him a stiff punishment that would deter other would be offenders.
Nkukula First Grade Magistrate Cecilia Onsewa said Dzinkambani deserved stiff punishment despite being first offender to send a clear message to others who would think of committing similar offences.
She then sentenced the convict to six years in jail on the charge of uttering false documents contrary to section 360 of the penal code.
The magistrate also sentenced Dzinkambani to three years for making false documents without authority contrary to section 364 of the penal code and two years for obtaining money by false pretence contrary to section 319 of the penal code. Onsewa said the sentences will run concurrently.
Dzinkambani hails from Nzomani village Traditional Authority Chakhumbira in Ntcheu.
