By-The State has withdrawn fraud charges against comedian Felistas Murata also known as Mai Titiafter she repaid the complainant’s US$10,000.

The withdrawal of charges took place before Harare magistrate Ms Apolonia Marutya, The Herald reported.

According to the State’s case, in September 2022, Mai Titi allegedly misrepresented to Rachel Mhuka that she needed US$10,000 for a business venture and offered her a Mercedes Benz as collateral. However, the vehicle did not belong to Murata. Mhuka gave her the money, but Murata later claimed that the Mercedes Benz was not hers and instead provided an Audi Q5 as collateral.

Murata again withdrew the Audi Q5 and replaced it with an invalid passport as surety. When Mhuka discovered that the passport Murata gave her was invalid, she confronted Murata, who returned the second vehicle.

In January of this year, police seized the car, claiming it had been stolen from Else Event Car Hire. The company had reported Murata for theft of trust property. Murata was sentanced to 12v months in prison of which six were suspended on condition that she doesn’t commit a similar offence in the next 5 years. 

It was also revealed during the trial that Mai TT had previously defaulted on community service hours for an assault conviction eight years ago. As a result, she was ordered to serve an additional three months in prison for the default. In total, she was sentenced to serve an effective nine months behind bars.