Thieving Chronicle vendor spared jail

By Michelle Gwizi

A Chronicle vendor who stole $1 748 from sales of the newspaper escaped jail after his 10 months sentence was suspended on condition that he performs community service and restitutes the money he converted to his own use.

Washington Masiyiwa (62) of Cowdray Park suburb was convicted of theft by Bulawayo magistrate Ms Gladmore Mushove.

In passing the sentence, Ms Mushove condemned Masiyiwa’s conduct, saying his offence should not go unpunished.

“Your actions are deplorable and should not go unpunished. Accordingly, you are sentenced to 10 months in prison of which three months are suspended on condition that you do not commit any similar offence within the next five years.

“The other four months are suspended on condition that you complete 140 hours of community service at Cowdray Park Police Station starting May 20, 2019. The remaining three months are further suspended on condition that you restitute the complainant $1 748 on or before August 13 this year,” she said.

Agreed facts are that between December 20, 2016 and March 30, 2017, Masiyiwa was issued with newspapers to sell on behalf of The Chronicle, a subsidiary of the Zimpapers Group.

The prosecutor, Mr Taurai Hondo told the court that during that period, the accused person sold 545 newspaper copies at $1 each.

He, however, failed to remit the cash to his employer in violation of a trust agreement with Zimpapers and in the process prejudicing the company of $545.

“Instead of remitting all the money or returning the newspapers which were not sold, the accused person would only remit some of the money and converted the remainder of cash or returns to his own personal use,” Mr Hondo said.

Masiyiwa was arrested by alert loss control officers after he had failed to remit the cash to the company.

The total amount stolen is $1 748 and nothing was recovered. The Chronicle