Magistrate Court has sentenced a 46-year-old maid to two years imprisonment for stealing US$30,000 (K480,000) from her employer.
Jane Ngoma was charged with theft by servant and she pleaded guilty.
She stole the money from her employer Marios Hadjiloi between December 13 and December 27, last year.
Magistrate Dominic Makalicha sentenced Ngoma to two years following her own admission of guilt.
Asked how much she stole, Ngoma said she did not know as she was not counting.
According to facts of the case read in court, Ngoma was employed as a maid by Hadjiloi of Dan Pule road in Mass Media area in Lusaka.
Hadjiloi reported that on December 17, 2021, around 11:00 hours, one of his maids Barbra Chanda informed him that Ngoma had not been reporting for work since December 13, 2021.
Upon receipt of the information, Hadjiloi decided to check in the house to establish if at all there was some things missing.
He started by opening one of the cupboard where he keeps his safe and found that the keys for the safe were missing.
Hadjiloi checked around in the house but could not find the keys to the safe and he decided to cut the safe from behind and upon opening it, he discovered that the money amounting US$30,000 that he had put in it was missing.
He reported the matter to Lusaka Central Police where police instituted investigations which revealed that Ngoma stole the money and relocated to Kasengafyoshi village in Mpika, Muchinga Province.
Hadjiloi said Moses Mulenga, a driver of the vehicle which Ngoma had hired at the cost of K10,000 on December 16, 2021 led the officers to Mpika at the place he had taken the accused with all her household goods.
The accused was apprehended in Mpika and officers managed to recover US$14,500 cash.
The officers also recovered items believed to have been proceeds of crime which included, one gasoline chain saw wood cutter, black boots, one solar panel, 20 litre sprayer, portable blue tooth solar panel and an inventor 12 volts.
Under warn and caution, Ngoma admitted the charge.
When taken to court, Ngoma still maintained that she stole the money in issue.
Magistrate Makalicha convicted her and in her mitigation, she asked for the leniency, saying she was a first offender and a single mother of three children while one of kids was unwell.
Passing sentence, magistrate Makalicha jailed her two years with effect from today.
He said what Ngoma did by stealing his employer’s money was very bad and urged her to respect people’s property.
The magistrate said Ngoma had no right to steal her employer’s money.
