News / National
Wife jailed for stealing from businessman
23 Sep 2014 at 05:50hrs | Views
A wife of a prominent Zvishavane businessman and his personal assistant were last week jailed for 20 months for stealing from her husband despite making claims that he had raped and infected them with HIV.
Zvishavane magistrate Peter Madiba found Talita Phosa (28) and her husband's PA Precious Chikowora (33) guilty of fraud for swindling their employer-cum-"lover" of $2 000 after conniving to alter company journals and receipt books.
Phosa had told the court her husband Dunlot Ndlovu had infected her with HIV and wanted to fix her so that she would not make any maintenance claims against him.
"He infected me with HIV and I wanted to sue him for that, but he quickly raised the fraud claims," she said.
"He was very aware that I was filing a maintenance claim that would see him lose part of his empire and his greediness hatched a plan to raise fraud charges against me."
Chikowora had initially told the court that her boss had sexually abused her nine times and she defrauded his company because he was paying her very little. She said despite alerting Ndlovu's wife about the alleged abuse, it continued unabated.
"I only took $400 . . . I was abused nine times and he slept with me once and I told my mother, his wife and my uncle about the abuse, but none of them rescued me," Chikowora said.
However, the magistrate dismissed the claims due to lack of evidence. Prosecutor Stanley Ncube said the claims were only being used as an escape route.
"I don't think you are telling the truth and if you are, why did you remain silent to report your assertions? Now the evidence presented before this court by the complainant clearly shows that you stole money from him and altered books of accounts," Madiba who sentenced the two to spend 20 months behind bars at Zvishavane prison said.
It was the State's case that sometime in May, Ndlovu was at his driving school when he was approached by a client with $100 for driving lessons.
Ndlovu advised the client to pay $150 so as to get an extra free lesson and secure free car hire for the official road test. The client obliged and paid $100 before promising to return with the $50 balance.
The next day, Ndlovu observed that the $100 had not been receipted and became curious. He collected books from accounts and audited them.
He discovered that Phosa and Chikowora would receive cash and write the actual amount received on the customer copy without carbon paper to duplicate the entry.
Thereafter, the two would put carbon paper on the fast copy and forge the amount before converting the balances to their own use.
The fraud was committed on 10 counts totaling $1 980 and nothing was recovered. The two were remanded out of custody to September 12 for commencement of trial.
Zvishavane magistrate Peter Madiba found Talita Phosa (28) and her husband's PA Precious Chikowora (33) guilty of fraud for swindling their employer-cum-"lover" of $2 000 after conniving to alter company journals and receipt books.
Phosa had told the court her husband Dunlot Ndlovu had infected her with HIV and wanted to fix her so that she would not make any maintenance claims against him.
"He infected me with HIV and I wanted to sue him for that, but he quickly raised the fraud claims," she said.
"He was very aware that I was filing a maintenance claim that would see him lose part of his empire and his greediness hatched a plan to raise fraud charges against me."
Chikowora had initially told the court that her boss had sexually abused her nine times and she defrauded his company because he was paying her very little. She said despite alerting Ndlovu's wife about the alleged abuse, it continued unabated.
"I only took $400 . . . I was abused nine times and he slept with me once and I told my mother, his wife and my uncle about the abuse, but none of them rescued me," Chikowora said.
"I don't think you are telling the truth and if you are, why did you remain silent to report your assertions? Now the evidence presented before this court by the complainant clearly shows that you stole money from him and altered books of accounts," Madiba who sentenced the two to spend 20 months behind bars at Zvishavane prison said.
It was the State's case that sometime in May, Ndlovu was at his driving school when he was approached by a client with $100 for driving lessons.
Ndlovu advised the client to pay $150 so as to get an extra free lesson and secure free car hire for the official road test. The client obliged and paid $100 before promising to return with the $50 balance.
The next day, Ndlovu observed that the $100 had not been receipted and became curious. He collected books from accounts and audited them.
He discovered that Phosa and Chikowora would receive cash and write the actual amount received on the customer copy without carbon paper to duplicate the entry.
Thereafter, the two would put carbon paper on the fast copy and forge the amount before converting the balances to their own use.
The fraud was committed on 10 counts totaling $1 980 and nothing was recovered. The two were remanded out of custody to September 12 for commencement of trial.
Source - southern Eye
