Govt Garage clerk convicted of theft

A GOVERNMENT Garage employee, in whose house a huge collection of vehicle parts was found, was convicted of theft yesterday.

Victoria Mukundukwa (36) was employed as a clerk in the workshop store of the Government Garage in Windhoek when she was arrested on a charge of theft on June 16 2003. That was after a large hoard of car parts, mechanical workshop equipment and Government-issued clothing – valued at N$65 465,28 – were discovered in her house in Golgota Street in Katutura.Mukundukwa was accused of stealing an array of car parts – such as brake pads, fuel and oil filters, wheel bearings and clutch kits – and material normally used in a mechanical workshop.The theft took place between January and June 2003.Mukundukwa pleaded not guilty when her trial started before Magistrate Valmary van Rooi on January 20 2004.With long postponements having interrupted the trial since then, it finally reached its end stage in the Windhoek Magistrate’s Court in Katutura yesterday, when Magistrate Van Rooi pronounced Mukundukwa guilty on the main charge of theft.’JUST HELPING A FRIEND OUT’ During her trial the court heard that a stocktaking exercise that was performed at the Government Garage after Mukundukwa’s arrest showed that spare parts and other stock worth N$98 012 in all had gone missing at the Government Garage between January 15 and June 27 2003.Mukundukwa’s explanation for the presence of the spare parts at her house was that a friend, one Silas Ndemuweda, who had a mechanical workshop at Rehoboth, had stored them at her home after his business went bankrupt.She also claimed that she had lent N$5 000 to Ndemuweda, who allegedly committed suicide in September 2003, and that the parts were stored at her house as a form of guarantee for the loan she had extended to him.It however emerged during the trial that Mukundukwa knew very little about the man who she claimed to have lent money to, and who she had in turn provided with storing space – to the extent that she did not even know whether he had actually had a business that flopped, the Magistrate commented in her judgement.She rejected Mukundukwa’s defence about Ndemuweda’s alleged responsibility for the presence of the vehicle parts at her house as an afterthought and a fabrication.When the evidence in the case was viewed as a whole, it was clear that the prosecution had produced overwhelming evidence to prove Mukundukwa’s guilt on the theft charge, the Magistrate said.Mukundukwa remains free on bail until she has to return to court on December 1 for the start of the sentencing phase of her trial.Her defence lawyer, Jan Wessels, told the Magistrate yesterday that he had advised Mukundukwa about the possibility of a prison sentence if she was convicted.He asked the court to grant her time to get her affairs in order in anticipation of that possibility before the court sentences her.Public Prosecutor Arrie Husselmann represented the State during the trial.That was after a large hoard of car parts, mechanical workshop equipment and Government-issued clothing – valued at N$65 465,28 – were discovered in her house in Golgota Street in Katutura.Mukundukwa was accused of stealing an array of car parts – such as brake pads, fuel and oil filters, wheel bearings and clutch kits – and material normally used in a mechanical workshop.The theft took place between January and June 2003.Mukundukwa pleaded not guilty when her trial started before Magistrate Valmary van Rooi on January 20 2004.With long postponements having interrupted the trial since then, it finally reached its end stage in the Windhoek Magistrate’s Court in Katutura yesterday, when Magistrate Van Rooi pronounced Mukundukwa guilty on the main charge of theft.’JUST HELPING A FRIEND OUT’ During her trial the court heard that a stocktaking exercise that was performed at the Government Garage after Mukundukwa’s arrest showed that spare parts and other stock worth N$98 012 in all had gone missing at the Government Garage between January 15 and June 27 2003.Mukundukwa’s explanation for the presence of the spare parts at her house was that a friend, one Silas Ndemuweda, who had a mechanical workshop at Rehoboth, had stored them at her home after his business went bankrupt.She also claimed that she had lent N$5 000 to Ndemuweda, who allegedly committed suicide in September 2003, and that the parts were stored at her house as a form of guarantee for the loan she had extended to him.It however emerged during the trial that Mukundukwa knew very little about the man who she claimed to have lent money to, and who she had in turn provided with storing space – to the extent that she did not even know whether he had actually had a business that flopped, the Magistrate commented in her judgement.She rejected Mukundukwa’s defence about Ndemuweda’s alleged responsibility for the presence of the vehicle parts at her house as an afterthought and a fabrication.When the evidence in the case was viewed as a whole, it was clear that the prosecution had produced overwhelming evidence to prove Mukundukwa’s guilt on the theft charge, the Magistrate said.Mukundukwa remains free on bail until she has to return to court on December 1 for the start of the sentencing phase of her trial.Her defence lawyer, Jan Wessels, told the Magistrate yesterday that he had advised Mukundukwa about the possibility of a prison sentence if she was convicted.He asked the court to grant her time to get her affairs in order in anticipation of that possibility before the court sentences her.Public Prosecutor Arrie Husselmann represented the State during the trial.