Online Reporter
Lesley Chikudo, [email protected]
THE trial of a Bulawayo woman employed as a police officer who allegedly squandered US$10 000 entrusted to her for safekeeping by her ex-husband kicked off with the State witness testifying.
Betina Ndlovu (31), of Pumula East suburb, pleaded not guilty when she appeared before Western Commonage magistrate Ms Learnear Khumalo.
She has been remanded out of custody until 20 May for continuation of trial.
Prosecutor, Ms Cathrine Kuzu, said the incident dates back to June last year, when Ndlovu was still living with her then-husband, Mr Gilbert Zuvarinwe.
“On the day in question, the complainant returned from work and found the accused absent from home.
“Upon inspection, he discovered that some household items were missing,” said Ms Kuzu.
The court heard that Mr Zuvarinwe also noticed that US$10 000 in cash, which the couple had jointly saved during their marriage, had disappeared, along with important documents for two houses and two vehicles.
Mr Zuvarinwe later confronted Ndlovu at her new residence, demanding an explanation and the return of the money, but she failed to account for it.
A report was made, leading to Ndlovu’s arrest. The documents or money were not recovered.
In court, Mr Zuvarinwe testified that he and his wife had a misunderstanding, which led them to sleep in different bedrooms.
“We had a misunderstanding sometime back, and then we decided to sleep in separate rooms until June 2024. On the day in question, I came back from work and found her gone to her parents’ house, leaving our matrimonial house,” he said.
“After that, I went into what used to be our matrimonial bedroom, opened the wardrobe where we kept our savings and other useful documents and found nothing,” said Mr Zuvarinwe.
In her defence through her lawyer, Mr Tinashe Tashaya of Sengweni Legal Practitioners, Ndlovu said she did not steal from her ex-husband.
“As for the money he is claiming, we never owned such an amount of money with both our salaries united. It was going to take many years to have such an amount. For the house and motor vehicle document, I had taken them to my lawyer, Mr Tinashe Dzipe, as we were in the process of divorcing,” she said.
