#jaiyeorie On Wednesday, November 9, the Pretoria Specialised Commercial Crimes Court in South Africa sentenced Lady Memory Mutsika of Zimbabwe to 3 years in direct imprisonment for 128 charges of theft.
Mutsika, 43, served as the church treasurer for the Seventh-Day Adventist congregation in Pretoria City.
Her duties included sending donations made to the church account for tithes and offerings to the Northern Conference of the Seventh-Day Adventist Church.
In the four years between 2012 and 2015, Mutsika moved to her bank account and used for personal purposes more than R800 000 of the money she got from the tithe and offerings.
In court, she pleaded guilty to the charges and asked for a non-custodial sentence to pay the church back the money over five years. However, the state argued that Mutsika always indicated her willingness to pay back the money and has not paid back a single cent since March 2022, after she was convicted. The magistrate agreed with the state and said Mutsika showed no remorse. He said she stopped stealing not because of her conscience, but because she was caught. The church placed her in a position of trust, but she betrayed that trust. He further said that he viewed Mutsika’s willingness to pay back the money, as a bargaining tool and as a ticket to keep her out of prison. Therefore, a sentence of imprisonment was appropriate and criminal conduct has consequences.
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