HARARE - Two of four Harare fraudsters in a licence discs scam have been spared a jail term.

Edmond Ngorima, 36, and Daniel Marecha, 21 appeared in court yesterday accused of stealing vehicle licence discs estimated at $78 500 and using forged date stamps of various Zimpost offices.

They were jointly charged with Michael Phiri, 39, and Jerifanos Manyere, 26, who were acquitted by the court.

The men were facing theft and forgery charges.

Ngorima was convicted on both counts while Marecha was only convicted on a theft charge.

Harare regional magistrate Clever Tsikwa ordered the two to pay a $200 fine in respect of theft charges, failure of which they will spend the next one month in prison.

Ngorima was sentenced to an additional four-month prison term, which was wholly suspended on condition of good behaviour for the next five years.

Prosecutor Oliver Marwa told the court the two connived to steal vehicle licence disc books from Zimpost Harare offices between January and September last year.

The court heard the duo stole the books after they had been delivered by Zimbabwe National Road Administration (Zinara) for official use.

After stealing the books, the court heard, Ngorima forged date stamps of Zimpost Southerton office, Mt pleasant and Zvimba rural district council.

He designed the date stamps in a manner that they resembled the original date stamps from the respective Zimpost offices.

The offence came to light, when Zinara officials made efforts to recover the stolen discs.

Working on a tip-off, police officers set a trap leading to the gang’s arrest.

Upon his arrest, Ngorima was found in possession of some of the discs and forged Zimpost date stamps, the court was told.