Bulawayo woman jailed for misappropriating US$1,040 entrusted to her

jailed

A 48-year-old Bulawayo woman has been sentenced to one year in prison for converting to personal use US$1,040 entrusted to her by her friend to purchase a residential stand.

Rejoice Ncube of Luveve suburb was convicted of theft of trust property by Bulawayo magistrate Mr Maxwell Ncube.
In passing the sentence, the magistrate said Rejoice abused her position of trust by misappropriating the funds for personal use.

He, however, took into consideration that the accused did not waste the court’s time as she pleaded guilty to the charges.

Mr Ncube sentenced Rejoice to one year in prison, of which four months were suspended on condition she pays a fine of US$300 to the courts.

Another three months were suspended on condition of restitution of the victim’s money.
The magistrate further suspended the remaining five months on condition that she completes 175 hours of community service at Percy Ibbotson Primary School.

Prosecutor Mr Mehluli Ndlovu said on August 22, Rejoice met Ms Nohlanhla Dube outside Bulawayo city centre, where they discussed buying stands.

Ncube promised to buy a residential stand on her behalf, prompting Ms Dube to give her a sum of US$1,040.
“Pursuant to that agreement, the complainant then gave the accused person money amounting to US$1,040 for the purpose of purchasing a residential stand on her behalf as earlier agreed,” said Mr Ndlovu.

“Instead of purchasing the residential stand as agreed by the accused person converted the money for her own purposes and did not buy the stand in violation of the trust agreement with the complainant.”

The court heard that the total value stolen is US$1,040 and nothing was recovered.
In a related case, another 35-year-old Bulawayo woman who exploited an armed robbery at her workplace to steal US$24,000 was jailed for an effective six years in July
Nothando Banana, who had been released on US$100 bail, was also convicted of theft of trust property after it emerged she had taken advantage of a violent robbery to pocket a large sum of company money.