Women jailed for stealing US$25,000 from her mother's employer

A Harare woman, Priscilla Gwasira (23), was sentenced to 36 months behind bars on Thursday after being convicted of stealing US$25,000 from her mother's employer.

Harare magistrate Lisa Mutendereki initially acquitted Noah Defred (55) and Beauty Ushendibaba (53), but found Gwasira guilty.

Mutendereki, however, suspended nine months on condition that Gwasira does not commit a similar offence in the future, while a further 12 months were suspended on the grounds that she restitutes US$17,700 to the complainant, Ashleigh Kruger.

In her ruling, Mutendereki noted that Gwasira's accomplices, including Ushendibaba and Defred, were not implicated by the CCTV footage, and that her word alone could not serve as evidence without supporting proof.

The State's case was that on May 8 last year, Kruger secured US$25,000 inside a portable safe and placed it in a wardrobe in her bedroom. Between that date and May 17, the trio had conspired to steal the money.

Defred and Ushendibaba allegedly sneaked Gwasira into Kruger's bedroom, where she took the cashbox, and the three shared the money among themselves.

Unbeknownst to them, their actions were being recorded on hidden CCTV cameras.

Kruger discovered the theft on June 9 last year when she checked on the money, intending to use it. The matter was reported at Highlands Police Station.

On June 11, detectives from CID Homicide arrested Gwasira at her Chitungwiza hideout, where she implicated Defred and her mother. Police managed to recover US$600 from Gwasira and US$7,700 from the other two.

Gwasira indicated that she used part of her share to acquire a motor vehicle, a headboard, mattress, clothes, and a residential stand in Dema, where she had already built a two-roomed house.