Ex-Zambeef cashier jailed 14 months for stealing K74,000

A Lusaka Magistrates’ Court has sentenced a 38-year-old former Zambeef senior cashier to 14 months’ simple imprisonment for stealing more than K74,000 from her employer.

Mercy Malama of Kabanana Township was convicted of theft by servant contrary to Section 272 as read with Section 278 of the Penal Code.

The court heard that the theft was uncovered on May 4, 2024, after Zambeef reported suspected financial irregularities involving Malama to Zone 17 Police Post.

Investigations led by Detective Inspector Sitowa established that Malama, whose duties included receiving cash deposits from junior cashiers before handing them over to Cash-in-Transit (CIT) officers for banking, tampered with sealed deposit bags and altered deposit records.

The court heard that in one transaction, K2,000 deposited in a cash bag was altered on the deposit slip to reflect K1,800, enabling her to misappropriate K200.

Further investigations uncovered a series of similar transactions, with the total amount stolen exceeding K74,000.

Following her arrest, Malama admitted altering deposit records before she was formally charged and later released on police bond.

In delivering judgment, Magistrate Mwandu Nakazwe found that the prosecution had proved its case beyond reasonable doubt.

The magistrate rejected the defence’s argument that the prosecution’s case was weakened by its failure to produce an audit report and other documents, holding that the law did not require every available witness or document to be produced where the evidence before the court is sufficient to prove the charge.

The court found the testimony of the prosecution witnesses to be consistent, mutually corroborative and largely unchallenged.

Malama was consequently convicted and sentenced to 14 months’ simple imprisonment.

She broke down in tears in the dock as the sentence was pronounced.

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