Woman steals US$24 000 from employer

A 35-year-old woman from Barham Green in Bulawayo yesterday appeared in court on charges of stealing US$24 000 from a steel manufacturing company she works for in the Belmont industrial area during an armed robbery.

The accused, Nothando Banana, reportedly committed the crime on October 15, the same day robbers armed with pistols and a garden pick pounced and got away with US$32 500 in a violent armed robbery.

Banana, who is being charged with theft of trust funds, allegedly tried to cover up her crime by blaming the robbers for the theft of the money. She appeared before Bulawayo regional magistrate, Mrs Benhilda Chiundura, while Mr Jethro Mada appeared for the State. Banana was released on US$100 bail and will return to the dock on November 1. Banana is being represented by Mr Bob Siansole of Shenje and Company.

Mr Mada told the court that Banana took advantage of the robbery and stole US$24 400, from a safe she was in charge of depositing cash from salespersons before handing it over to her principals.

He said the suspects confronted the security guards and workers on night duty and ordered them to lie down before tying their hands and legs with shoelaces.

“The gang proceeded to an office upstairs where they used a grinder to cut open two safes. They only stole from one safe and left the one Banana was entrusted with depositing money from salespersons before handing it to the company authorities,” said Mr Mada.

He said company authorities found that the safe Banana was entrusted with, containing US$27 000, had not been tampered with while doing an inventory of the losses.

“They then asked for keys from the accused person and unlocked the safe. Upon opening the safe, they discovered that out of US$27 000, only US$2 600 was left. Upon interviewing her, she admitted to having used the money,” said Mr Mada.

He said Banana was apprehended following a day and night extravagant spending spree in Bulawayo.

The public seems to be keenly following the proceedings as the trial unfolds, as it comes on the heels of arguably the country’s biggest heist, in which about US$4 million was seized from an Ecobank branch in Bulawayo by AK47-armed robbers when it was being loaded into a waiting cash-in-transit van.

In another incident, US$20 000 was stolen from a Fawcett security cash-in-transit van after guards transporting the cash from Beitbridge to Mutare offered a lift to two strangers.

According to the latest crime statistics released by the police, the country recorded an alarming 11 percent surge in robberies prompting calls for the police to device and implement effective strategies to combat crime.

Addressing officers at this year’s ZRP Senior Officers’ Conference in Harare last week, Home Affairs and Cultural Heritage Minister, Kazembe Kazembe, said it was disheartening that the police had failed to meet set targets. He said the rise in crime in general leaves citizens apprehensive.