News / Regional
Stealing woman blames ancestral spirits for crimes
09 Mar 2014 at 09:08hrs | Views
AN unrepentant Hwange woman who went on a stealing spree targeting her friends and family told a magistrate that she needed help as she was possessed by her ancestral spirits that drove her to commit the crimes.
Fortune Mudenda (21) of house number H60 Makwika Village in Hwange, shocked the court after being brought for the fifth time on a charge of theft. She pleaded guilty to the charge when she appeared before provincial magistrate Miss Lindiwe Maphosa, who slapped her with an effective 18-month jail term.
According to the State led by Mr Tinomupeyi Mbiza on 25 January 2014 Mudenda visited the complainant, Beauty Tshuma, who stays in Lwendulu Village and is a friend, saying she wanted to spend the weekend at her house. Seeing nothing wrong with Mudenda spending the weekend with her, Tshuma welcomed her into her home.
The following day Tshuma left Mudenda alone when she went to see her boyfriend. However, when she returned later in the day, she was surprised to find the house deserted with Mudenda nowhere to be seen. After failing to locate her friend, she decided to go to her bedroom where she was shocked discover that some of her clothes were missing. The items missing included a pink dress, two yellow tops, a pair of navy blue skin jeans, a wrapping cloth, perfume, three pairs of underwear and a pair of earrings.
Efforts to locate Mudenda hit a snag as she had disappeared into thin air resulting in Tshuma reporting the matter to police, leading to her arrest. The total value of the items stolen was $50 and nothing was recovered.
Mudenda pleaded with the courts to be lenient with her as she was not entirely responsible for her actions but was being influenced by her ancestral spirits to steal.
"Your Worship, I need help because I think I'm possessed by my ancestral spirits which drive me to steal. I pray that the court be lenient with me as I'm not responsible for the crimes," she said.
In passing sentence, the magistrate put into consideration that Mudenda was a repeat offender whose brush with the law had started when she was 17 and was cautioned before being discharged. She later appeared before the courts on three occasions facing similar chargees resulting in her spending three months in prison.
After bringing into effect suspended sentences, Maphosa slapped her with an additional three months on the initial sentence of 15 months imprisonment.
Fortune Mudenda (21) of house number H60 Makwika Village in Hwange, shocked the court after being brought for the fifth time on a charge of theft. She pleaded guilty to the charge when she appeared before provincial magistrate Miss Lindiwe Maphosa, who slapped her with an effective 18-month jail term.
According to the State led by Mr Tinomupeyi Mbiza on 25 January 2014 Mudenda visited the complainant, Beauty Tshuma, who stays in Lwendulu Village and is a friend, saying she wanted to spend the weekend at her house. Seeing nothing wrong with Mudenda spending the weekend with her, Tshuma welcomed her into her home.
The following day Tshuma left Mudenda alone when she went to see her boyfriend. However, when she returned later in the day, she was surprised to find the house deserted with Mudenda nowhere to be seen. After failing to locate her friend, she decided to go to her bedroom where she was shocked discover that some of her clothes were missing. The items missing included a pink dress, two yellow tops, a pair of navy blue skin jeans, a wrapping cloth, perfume, three pairs of underwear and a pair of earrings.
Efforts to locate Mudenda hit a snag as she had disappeared into thin air resulting in Tshuma reporting the matter to police, leading to her arrest. The total value of the items stolen was $50 and nothing was recovered.
Mudenda pleaded with the courts to be lenient with her as she was not entirely responsible for her actions but was being influenced by her ancestral spirits to steal.
"Your Worship, I need help because I think I'm possessed by my ancestral spirits which drive me to steal. I pray that the court be lenient with me as I'm not responsible for the crimes," she said.
In passing sentence, the magistrate put into consideration that Mudenda was a repeat offender whose brush with the law had started when she was 17 and was cautioned before being discharged. She later appeared before the courts on three occasions facing similar chargees resulting in her spending three months in prison.
After bringing into effect suspended sentences, Maphosa slapped her with an additional three months on the initial sentence of 15 months imprisonment.
Source - Sunday News
