Zambian driver jailed for using employer’s US$2,636 for gambling
The funds were intended to cover expenses for a cross-border sulphuric acid delivery from Mufulira to Kolwezi in the DRC.
Zambia.- A Zambian truck driver has been sentenced to three years in prison after admitting that he used about K50,000 belonging to his employer for gambling.
The Ndola Magistrates’ Court convicted 30-year-old Gerald Sitali, an employee of Gaas Transport Limited (GTL), of theft by servant. Magistrate Samson Mumba handed down the sentence with hard labour, effective from the date of Sitali’s arrest.
The case arose from a company assignment on July 4, when Sitali was sent to Mopani Copper Mines in Mufulira to collect sulphuric acid for delivery to Kolwezi in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
The company subsequently provided him with approximately K50,000 through another employee’s account because Sitali did not have a US dollar account. The money included K5,000 (US$263) intended as his mileage allowance, while the rest was allocated to expenses connected with the delivery.
On July 13, however, Sitali told his employer that he had lost the logistics funds through gambling.
During mitigation, Sitali asked the court for leniency, saying he had a family that depended on him and that imprisonment would leave them facing hardship. He also alleged that his employer had confined him inside the truck trailer for three days.
Magistrate Mumba nevertheless considered the value of the stolen funds a serious aggravating factor when determining the sentence. He also warned Sitali about the consequences of his gambling behaviour, noting that other people had appeared before him over offences linked to gambling.
