adminPhilimon Makulumo (36) on Tuesday appeared before Gwanda magistrate Ms Sheila Nazombe to answer charges of theft.
He pleaded not guilty, but was convicted and had 30 days of his 60 days in prison suspended on condition that he paid $80 for the stolen cooking oil that was not recovered.
For the State, Mr Khumbulani Nyoni said on 2 November last year, at about 6pm, Makulumo was in charge of a roadblock at the 52km peg along the Bulawayo-Beitbridge Road.
As Makulumo was manning the roadblock with other police officers, ZRP Esigodini phoned advising them to intercept a Revival Bus that was heading towards Beitbridge, which had passengers who had stolen cooking oil from a truck which had been involved in a road traffic accident near Esigodini business centre.
On arrival at the roadblock near Colleen Bawn, the bus was stopped and searched, leading to the recovery of 123 5-litre containers of cooking oil that had been stolen by some passengers.
The cooking oil was taken to Colleen Bawn Police Station and handed over to Constable Machona, who was manning the charge office.
After Makulumo knocked off from the roadblock, he instructed Const Machona to hand over the cooking oil to him so that he could put it in the strong room for safe keeping.
Makulumo distributed 5 containers of cooking oil to those who had assisted in carrying the cooking oil from the roadblock to the police camp.
He also gave Const Machona and two other police officers 5 litres of cooking oil each while he took 10 litres for himself.
When others knocked off from duty, Makulumo remained behind alone tidying the strong room.
When Const Matumba of ZRP Esigodini went to Colleen Bawn the following day to collect the recovered cooking oil, Makulumo only handed over 111 containers instead of 123.
Investigations on the missing cooking oil were made and only 4 containers were recovered.
Online Reporter