Landlady ordered to return property to her former tenant

MUTINTA MULAYE writes

THE Boma Local Court has ordered a 72 year old woman of Makeni to fix and return property of her former tenant without further delays.

This was in a case in which Angela Sakala, 34, sued Margaret Pasqueen for illegally holding onto her goods which were later damaged while in her care.

The two were appearing before Senior Presiding Magistrate Mpundu Mwape.
“I worked for this woman from January, 2018 and stayed in her servant’s quarters. One day she told me to vacate the house and even gave me K500 to find another house to rent,” Ms Sakala said.

She then told the court that in April she managed to find a house and when she did, Pasqueen called her driver to transfer her goods to Sakala’s new home. “All the property was loaded onto the vehicle but it was not taken because she told the driver that it was late.

It all remained in the car and I went to report to the police who told me to go back the following day,” Sakala told the court.
She said later it rained heavily and the property got soaked in the vehicle because the goods were not covered or offloaded.

In defence Pasqueen told the court that there was suddenly a lot of thefts so she asked some of her tenants to leave.
“We had a lot of thefts at the warehouse which we’ve never had before so I asked some of them to leave so that I take control of the situation,” said Pasqueen

She then said Sakala sent her a message around 01:00hrs when she was already sleeping telling her it was raining.
“In the morning I sent my driver to the police because her goods were still on my truck. We waited for her to come and get them but by afternoon we got summons that we were holding her goods illegally,” said Pasqueen

After a scene visit by the court to check the goods, it was found that some property such as TV, decoder and the stove were working but a few things were damaged.

The court ordered that Pasqueen to fix what was damaged and returns everything to Sakala’s house.