CHURCH THIEF JAILED

MULENGA MUSONDA

 A 27 years old man with an insatiable appetite for stealing will serve 2 more years in prison after he took his criminal behaviour too far by breaking into a church and stealing a Coffee Table among other items. This was in a matter in which Moses Hamatwe of Choma’s Mwapona Township was sentenced to 2 years imprisonment with hard labour by the Choma Magistrates Court for ‘Breaking into a Building and Committing a Felony therein’.

Particulars of the offence are that Hamatwe on March 5, 2021 broke into Choma Christian Fellowship Church and stole therein 2 Speakers and 1 Coffee Table all valued at K3, 000 the property of the named Church. When he appeared for plea before Senior Resident Magistrate Peter Mungala, the accused person without coercion admitted the charge against him compelling the Court to enter a plea of guilty.

In accordance with the Facts read by the State, Hamatwe admitted that he was found with the Coffee Table at the time of his apprehension. Hamatwe who informed the Court that he was serving a 18 months’ imprisonment term begged the Court to exercise maximum lenience as he is a family man with two children who look up to him for their daily needs.

But Magistrate Mungala in sentencing Hamatwe found it shocking and disappointing that a normal human being can resort to stealing from a place of worship. He thus sentenced Hamatwe to 2 years imprisonment with hard labour to run consecutively with his 18 months jail term.