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Sidunyisiwe Mazalayedwa

Leonard Ncube Victoria Falls Reporter
A former Wilderness Safaris employee who allegedly misappropriated $5,000 given to her to allocate to tour guides as petty cash has claimed she was mentally disturbed when she committed the crime.

Sidunyisiwe Mazalayedwa, 33, through her lawyer Elvis Mashindi, yesterday applied for discharge in terms of the Mental Health Act when appearing before Victoria Falls magistrate, Sharon Rosemani.

She is being charged with theft and has pleaded not guilty.

Mazalayedwa claimed she was receiving treatment for mental disorder during the time she is alleged to have stolen the money last year on May 2.

“In the month of May 2014 she had a mental disorder and we are of the opinion that the accused cannot be criminally liable for the offence in terms of Section 192 of the Criminal Procedure and Evidence Act which specifies that in such instances the accused should be treated in terms of the Mental Health Act,” said Mashindi while making an application for discharge.

He said Mazalayedwa, who was employed as an overseas adventure travel coordinator for the tour operating company, had been treated at a number of health institutions including Ingutsheni Mental Hospital in Bulawayo for mental disturbance.

Mashindi produced an affidavit showing that the accused was attended to by a psychiatric doctor, Walter Mangezi, at Parirenyatwa Group of Hospitals on April 28, 2015. The affidavit also showed that she was attended to at Ingutsheni and at two institutions in Victoria Falls.

He said: “Section 227 of the Code says in trial for a person suffering from mental disorder at the time of commission of an offence, duration shall be immaterial. It’s therefore our humble submission that this court proceeds in terms of the Mental Health Act because it is common cause that the accused sought medical attention from a doctor and a nurse in Victoria Falls and there is no way a psychiatrist would have examined her without making reference to their reports.”

This was after prosecutor Listen Nare told the court that the State would not accept the affidavit by Dr Mangezi because the dates were not in tandem.

Nare said the State would have accepted a report from Ingutsheni.

“According to the defence, the accused is a patient at Ingutsheni where she is on medication and the State was expecting an affidavit confirming she was examined at that institution. The report is not reliable considering the variance in dates where the accused is said to have been mentally ill in 2014 and was examined this month, which is a year later,” said Nare.

He said the psychiatric doctor relied on “hearsay” basing on outpatient cards handed over to him.

The State suggested that the court should invite the doctor to come and testify on the matter.

Rosemani will make a ruling on June 9.

Prosecuting, Nare said on May 2 last year, Mazalayedwa was given $5,000 as petty cash to issue to tour guides.

It is alleged that she converted the money to her own use and stopped coming to work on May 22. On the 30th of the same month Wilderness Safaris general manager Moses Nyamasuka visited her at her place of residence and she failed to account for the money, the court heard.

Nare said an internal audit was carried out and established that the money was missing and a report was made to the police.