By Isaac Zulu
A 35-year-old man is appearing in the Kapiri Mposhi Magistrates’ Court for allegedly stealing office equipment worth more than K43,000 from a One Stop Gender Based Violence Centre.
Before Kapiri Mposhi Resident Magistrate Anorld Kasongamulilo was Kelvin Kapembwa, a resident of Kapiri Central Park who is a coordinator at Kapiri Urban Clinic under the GBV One Stop Centre and is alleged to have stolen office equipment worth over K43,750.
Kapembwa stands charged with one count of theft by servant which is contrary to the Laws of Zambia.
The items alleged to have been stolen were a desktop computer, two printers, an air conditioner, a television set, central processing unit (CPU) and a battery back-up.
The accused is said to have committed the alleged offence between January 2018 and August 2023 at Kapiri Mposhi Urban Clinic.
When the matter came before court, Kapembwa denied the charge and a plea of not guilty was, accordingly, recorded.
And two of the accused person’s workmates have narrated before court how they noticed that some office equipment, after their inventory, were missing and subsequently reported the matter to relevant authorities.
A paralegal officer based at Kapiri Mposhi Urban Clinic Gender Based Violence One Stop Centre, Rabson Lombe, told court that they realised that some items in the inventory were missing and opted to report the matter to the police.
The court further heard that at one point Kapembwa was queried about the whereabouts of the said items, but in response he said some of the office equipment had only been taken for temporal use at the residence of one of the district health members of staff.
The matter comes up on
December 29, 2023 for continued trial.
