adminSukulwenkosi Dube, Plumtree Correspondent
A BULILIMA woman who was admitted to Plumtree District Hospital Maternity Ward has been jailed for a month for stealing a cell phone she had borrowed from another patient.
The woman started a one-month-jail sentence on Tuesday after failing to raise $50 to pay a fine.
Pretty Sibanda (20) of Joshua Mqabuko Village in Figtree borrowed a cell phone from Ms Sithembile Ncube (19) saying she wanted to call her relatives.
She then left with the cell phone after she was discharged.
Sibanda was convicted on her own plea of guilty to theft when she appeared before Plumtree magistrate, Mr Livard Philemon.
She was fined $50 or one month imprisonment in case of default.
Mr Philemon had initially pardoned her on condition that she surrendered the cell phone at the Plumtree magistrates’ court by June 24 so that it could be returned to its owner but she failed to comply with the order.
Sibanda told the court that she took the cell phone home by mistake.
“I made efforts to return it to her after realising that I had taken it home by mistake but I failed to locate her. It wasn’t my intention to steal Your Worship, please pardon me as I have a small baby right now,” said Sibanda.
However, when she failed to hand over the phone to the court by June 24, a warrant of arrest was issued against her and she was jailed for a month on Tuesday.
Prosecuting, Mrs Rose Sibanda said Sibanda stole the cell phone on April 4 when she was admitted together with Ms Ncube.
“Ms Ncube was moved to another room and later when she went to check on Sibanda to collect her cell phone she discovered that she had been discharged,” she said.
Mrs Sibanda said Ms Ncube tried to call Sibanda on the cell phone number which she had given her but could not get hold of her.
She said Ms Ncube reported the matter to hospital authorities who then alerted the police resulting in Sibanda’s arrest.
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