Kitwe Man Jailed For Stealing KR250

By MUBANGA NONDO
A 35-YEAR-OLD man of Kitwe has been sentenced to two months imprisonment with hard labour for stealing KR250 from a woman in Ndola.
Particulars of the offence are that Happy Katyaka, unemployed, of house number 366 Buchi in Kitwe did steal KR250 from Charity Chola, a secretary at Lumangwe Chambers in Ndola, contrary to Section 272 Cap 87 of the Penal Code of the Laws of Zambia, a charge he admitted.
On the material day, Katyaka went to Chola’s office to look for her supervisor and when Chola left for her superior’s office, Katyaka opened the drawers in Chola’s office and got KR250.
In sentencing Katyaka, magistrate Linda Sikalunda said the accused had no legal right to deprive the owner of her property.
In mitigation, Katyaka asked the court to free him so that he could go home and access anti-retroviral drugs as he had not accessed the drugs from the time he was detained.
Katyaka also said he had a one-month-old baby whom he needed to provide for because the doctor had advised that the baby should stop breastfeeding after it turned three.
But magistrate Sikalunda said: “Theft is a serious offence and you ought to have known the consequences of your action when you were committing the crime. I will include in your file that you are on ARVs and the prison warder will see to it that he provides you with the drugs whilst in prison.”
And in the same court, Ben Mwape, 35, a casual worker at ZAFFICO in Ndola, pleaded guilty to trafficking in psychotropic substances.
Particulars of the offence are that on May 9, 2013, in Ndola, Mwape was caught trafficking in 620 grammes of marijuana, a charge he admitted.
He told the court that the marijuana he was caught with was not for sale but for smoking.