adminMashudu Netsianda Senior Court Reporter
THE High Court has ordered a Bulawayo man who defrauded his former employer of $52,000 five years ago, to pay back the money and foot the legal bills incurred by the shop owner. Bulawayo High Court judge Justice Martin Makonese’s ruling follows an application by Sweetheart Enterprises (Pvt) Ltd which sought an order compelling Brighton Chitsatse to return the money he allegedly stole from its coffers.
In the papers before the court, Sweetheart Enterprises is the plaintiff while Chitsatse was cited as the defendant. “It’s ordered that the defendant pays the plaintiff the sum of $52,000 and to pay the cost of suit at attorney-client scale,” ruled Justice Makonese.
In his evidence, Sweetheart Enterprises’ loss control manager, Lackson Chomundondo, said Chitsatse was employed as a till supervisor by the company between June and September 2010.
“The defendant defrauded the plaintiff of $52,000 between June and September 2010. The defendant was the supervisor of all till operators with access to the main server which connected all till point computers. He was also responsible for generating daily status reports which reports would then be used to balance and reconcile all till operators’ cash on hand,” said Chomundondo.
He said the fraud was discovered following investigations instituted when the daily status report failed to tally with the daily sales summary report.
“It became clear after investigations that the defendant would manipulate the till point figures in the system and then advise till operators to take out the equivalent cash from the till. From the money taken by the till operators from the machine, it would be shared on a ratio of 2:1 with defendant getting two thirds and the till operator retaining a third,” said Chomundondo.
According to schedules of the daily status report there were discrepancies from all tills. Chomundondo said Chitsatse admitted in a warned and cautioned statement that he defrauded his former employer.
“The defendant admitted liability from the time that the fraud was discovered. He further led police to the vehicle which he advised had been bought using the stolen funds,” he said.
The matter dragged until it reached pre-trial conference stage with Chitsatse at times absconding. “Defendant’s conduct has led to a lot of time and money wasting on the part of the plaintiff. Consequently he should be ordered to pay costs of suit at attorney-client scale,” said Chomundondo.
Chitsatse denied committing the crime, arguing that he only admitted to the offence after he was assaulted by police. “I never defrauded the plaintiff of any money and never connived with anyone to prejudice the company as alleged,” he said.
“I was severely assaulted by police and was asked if I had any asset of value and on mentioning that I owned a car that’s when it was alleged that I bought it using the proceeds from the alleged theft without any proof. I’ve no obligation to pay the plaintiff any money wherefore I pray for the dismissal of the claim with costs and suits at attorney-client scale,” argued Chitsatse in his defence papers.
Sweetheart Enterprises (Pvt) Ltd owns City Bottle Store, hardware and a warehouse in Bulawayo.
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