Woman confesses stealing from till to replace shortage

By RABECCA BANDA A LUSAKA woman has told the Lusaka Magistrates’ Court that she got K70, 425  and planned to use it to make up for the shortages. Appearing before magistrate Ntandose Sakala was Juliet Mutonga, aged 32 of Makeni Villa accused of stealing  K70, 425 from Mini Daco Enterprises. Particulars of the offence were that Mutonga between August 2020 and September 29, 2020 got K70, 425 from Mini Daco Enterprises where she was employed as a sales lady. After taking plea of guilty, Mutonga explained that she was employed as a sales lady at Mini enterprise. She said during her work there were shortages which she could not understand how they came about. Magistrate: Did you get K70, 425? Mutonga: Yes. Magistrate: Why did you get the money knowing it does not belong to you? Mutonga: I got the money because I wanted to use it to do something to recover on the shortages. Magistrate: You made losses and still got money from there to recover the losses. Does that make sense to you? Mutonga: Yes that’s what I did. I had no other way of recovering the shortages. Magistrate: Did you get permission from the owner? Mutonga: No I did not Magistrate: Could it be that you wanted to use the money for your personal gain? Mutonga: No, my plan was to recover on the shortages. The court entered a plea of not guilty and adjourned the matter to a later date for trial.