26-year-old Christina Hamilton who made headlines for marrying a medical doctor for convenience before milking him of his money and properties worth over $400 000 was convicted of all charges before she fled from the Harare magistrate’s courts, evading judgement.
Hamilton who was facing charges of theft of trust property and fraud, among others, was found guilty of all four charges against her just before lunch and the matter had been rolled over to 1415hours for sentencing when her lawyer applied that she be placed in his care instead of the cells manned by officials of the Zimbabwe Prisons Correctional Services. Minutes before Magistrate Francis Mapfumo walked into the court room for court proceedings, Hamilton left the court under the guise of being engaged on a phone call and was never to be seen again. A warrant of arrest has however been issued against her amidst fears that she might flee the country.
She had siphoned over $400 000 as well as changing ownership of a brand new Range Rover belonging to a Harare medical doctor whom she supposedly married to have access to his money. Hamilton was facing a series of fraud and theft charges committed during their five-month stay after she exchanged vows with Alexander Guni who owns a clinic in Harare. The two met sometime in 2014 and within six weeks of dating they had tied the knot and the love-struck Guni who obviously had the means took her to Honolulu for their honeymoon.
Out of love, he had made her a shareholder in their company, a medical center.
The court however heard that it was a struggle for Guni to know his newly wedded bride as she always gave excuses when it came to matters of intimacy and he had ultimately gotten fade up after their stay in Honolulu was over. As the excited groom and loving husband he was, Guni arranged for a grand welcome back party for his wife together with his sisters who were to wait for them at the airport. The excited team was left in awe when Guni returned alone as Hamilton had refused to return with him giving a string of excuses not to return with him as she wanted to prolong her stay abroad.
He was later shocked when he discovered that his seemingly young wife had changed the ownership of their brand new Range Rover which had been purchased as a company vehicle. She had also taken their office safe which contained $400 000 together with his medical practicing certificates and his children’s birth certificates. During their time courting, Hamilton had requested that Guni rent an apartment in town for her and he was to later discover that she had been staying at that apartment with her boyfriend who is now the father of her child.
Guni confronted her when he discovered all the unnecessary spending but she fled the country before charged were raised against her.
In her defense to the allegations, she told Harare magistrate Mapfumo that Guni had no properties for her to have married him for convenience as all of the properties belonged to ‘their’ company and that he had manipulated her into marriage as she was only 21 at the time they exchanged vows.
She said everything she had taken was her entitlement as a wife and a shareholder in the company.
