By CHILA NAMAIKO –
THE Choma Magistrate’s Court has sentenced a 22-year-old man to three years imprisonment with hard labour for breaking into a storeroom at a local market where he stole caterpillars (locally known as finkubala), beans, and dry fish worth more than K2,000.
Cheelo Mwiinga of Zambia Township in Choma was facing two counts of breaking into a building with intent to commit a felony between December 25 and 26, 2014.
Mwiinga, with intent to commit a felony, broke and entered a storeroom at Makalanguzu market and stole two and a half buckets of caterpillars valued at K6.10 the property of Tryness Mudenda.
In count two, Mwiinga, with intent to commit a felony, broke into a storeroom at Makalanguzu market and stole two buckets of beans, dry fish and Kapenta worth K2,090 the property of Anna Sandu.
Mwiinga admitted the charge and told chief resident magistrate Willie Sinyangwe on Thursday that he stole the items to raise money.
The evidence was that on December 25, 2014, around 18:00 hours, the two complainants secured the items in question in a storeroom at the same market for safe keeping.
When the women went to collect the items the following morning, they discovered that their merchandise had gone missing and reported the matter to Choma Central Police and investigations were launched leading to Mwiinga’s arrest.
Mwiinga admitted having stolen the items and led police to where he sold them but only two and half buckets of caterpillars were recovered.
Mwiinga asked for leniency from the court because he was looking after his mother and grandmother.
But Mr Sinyangwe said that Mwiinga should have found better ways of providing for his family instead of stealing people’s property.
“You will be jailed three years imprisonment with hard labour for both counts which will run concurrently,” he said.