Byo 24 News Editor Simbarashe Sithole Aquitted Of Extortion Charges Against Ken Sharpe

Senior Reporter

Harare – Freelance Journalist Simbarashe Sithole (pictured right with lawyer Lenon Mapfumo) was on Thursday afternoon acquitted of exortotion charges at Harare magistrate Court.

The magistrate Rufaro Panavanhu ruled that the state failed to prove beyond any reasonable doubt and they failed to prove essential elements of the offense.

Sithole was represented by Mr Lenon Sheunesu Mapfumo.

The state led by Dzidzai Josiah alleged that on April 3, 2023, Sithole published a news article on the Bulawayo24 News website accusing West Properties of misleading investors in its bid to list on the forex-dominated Victoria Falls Stock Exchange.

Irked by the ‘malicious and fabricated’ report, the company tasked its spokesperson Michael Chideme to engage Sithole to pull down the story which it felt was detrimental to its planned listing.

Chideme allegedly met Sithole on April 6, who indicated that he was agreeable to have the offending article removed from the website, but allegedly demanded some money for it.

On April 11, Chideme again met with Sithole who allegedly demanded a US$400 bribe