By Lucy Phiri
A LUSAKA man has narrated in the Lusaka magistrate court how he stole property worth K24, 000 to feed and take his 10 children to school.
Alvis Simakali found himself in hot soup after the court found him with a case to answer and sentenced him to 30 months imprisonment with hard labour.
Simakali told the court, he needed to take his children to school and also feed his family as his wife is a stroke patient and cannot do anything.
Simakali is accused of stealing one wheelbarrow, a water pump and four rolls of wire fence property of Moses Chama, without lawful authority.
It is alleged that on July 4, 2021, Simakali was charged with one count of theft. It was around 20:00 hours when Nchimunya Mamwanjala one of the workers at the farm was about to go to bed and discovered that the mentioned items were missing. He then saw a man at a distance and immediately started running away, he chased him and managed to apprehend him and took him to the police where all the items were recovered.
In his mitigation, Simakali told the court he was a breadwinner who wanted to take his children to school hence the only thing he thought of was stealing so he could sell the items to have some money.
‘’I will never do it again, it is my first time in life to steal and I will never do it again, forgive me, your honor, ’’ he said.
But the court said the offense he committed was serious and needed to be punished to deter would be offenders.
The court sentenced him to 30 months imprisonment with hardlabour.
