No fraud in Perrance Shiri estate row

ONE of the daughters of the late national hero, Air Chief Marshal Perrance Shiri (Rtd), has been cleared of fraud and forging a birth certificate in order to be listed among the beneficiaries of the decorated military commander’s estate, with the acquittal coming after the State failed to prove its case against her.

In response to the two accusations, Stephanie Rufaro Shiri, 36, had dragged Stephan Tanaka Musvamhiri, 30, before the courts.

Chief Magistrate Mrs. Faith Mushure, closing the State case, cleared Musvamhiri of both charges last Friday, citing insufficient evidence from the State and its witnesses.

"The State did not provide proof that the accused utilized dishonest methods to obtain her name on the executor's documents. The executor was not called by the State to testify to that effect.

The Chief Magistrate claimed that the police did not carry out in-depth investigations into the case, instead operating off the presumptions of what Stephanie Shiri had informed them.

In relation to the claimed birth certificate forgery, the State was unable to provide sufficient evidence, and the Chief Magistrate determined that Ms. Musvamhiri was not responsible for the numerous residences listed on her certificate because her maternal grandmother had done so when she was a young girl.

The State was unable to call a witness from Global DNA to refute the claims that the DNA results were phony. The data that is now available confirms that Ms. Musvamhiri is Air Chief Marshall Shiri's daughter.

Ms. Ruvimbo Matyatya presented the State's case, which the Chief Magistrate rejected. Ms. Ruvimbo claimed that Ms. Musvamhiri obtained DNA test results fraudulently in 2020 and 2021 and gave them to the executor of the estate along with a birth certificate under Tanaka Stefan Musvamhiri's name.

The possible harm to the beneficiaries of the estate of US$124,663 prompted Ms. Rufaro Shiri to submit a police report.

On March 17, 2010, Ms. Musvamhiri went to the Chirumhanzu District Registry Offices for Births and Deaths to replace her lost birth certificate. According to the State's second charge, she gave the address of 13 Loquart Grove, Paradise Park, Marondera, rather than Village Honzeri, Chief Dendera, Karoi, as shown in the system of records maintained by the Registrar of Births and Deaths.

Ms. Rufaro Shiri filed a police report once more.Through her attorney, Mr. Arshiel Mugiya, Ms. Musvamhiri refuted the two accusations, claiming that Ms. Rufaro Shiri was merely making an effort to deny other biological children of the late Cde Shiri their inheritance because she had also been responsible for one of her siblings' arrests, Tawanda Zulu.

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