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Nokusa Masuku Court Reporter
Four Choppies employees have been ordered to perform 105 hours of community service each after a magistrate convicted them of stealing goods from their employer.

Prince Ndlovu, 26, George Scott, 24, Abednigo Machiridza, 49 and Shepherd Madonza, 35, stole goods at Choppies Mountain View in Lobengula West between November 1, 2014 and April 13, 2015.

The goods, which included wines, perfumes, spirits, cartons of pens and petroleum jellies, were valued at over $500.

Ndlovu, Scott, Machiridza and Madonza were convicted on their own plea of guilty to theft by magistrate Temba Chimiso.

They told the court that they stole from the shop because they were not getting paid.

“Your worship, we’re not getting paid at Choppies. On top of that we worked hard during the festive season in December thinking we would be paid over time but we got nothing. So we resorted to stealing,” said Madonza.

Magistrate Chimiso reprimanded them for their behaviour saying that they should have resigned instead of stealing.

“Theft from an employer is a very serious offence. You’re no longer employed therefore you’ve no capacity to restitute your employer. However, loss of employment is punishment enough,” said Chimiso.

They were all sentenced to wholly suspended three years imprisonment on condition that they each perform 105 hours of community service.

Ndlovu was ordered to do his community service at ZRP Magwegwe, Scott at ZRP Traffic West, Machiridza will offer free labour at Percy Ibbotson in Luveve and Madonza will be at Lobengula Secondary School.

Prosecuting Kenneth Shava told the court that the four would steal from their employer at night.

He said the matter came to light when the shop’s manager caught Madonza, who was a security guard at the shop, carrying some groceries that he failed to account for.

The court heard that Madonza admitted to the manager to having stolen the goods and he implicated the other three leading to their arrest.