By Roland Routh
WINDHOEK – A 22-year-old domestic worker received a fine of N$3 000 or six months in jail for stealing clothes and jewellery worth N$900 from her employer.
Windhoek Magistrate Justine Asino told Frieda Mosele that she breached the trust her employer had placed in her when she stole one gown worth N$250, one black jacket valued at N$550 and bracelets valued at N$100, from Addmore Nyandoro.
She was also accused of stealing cash of N$300, but she denied the allegation.
Public prosecutor Samantha Diergaardt accepted the guilty plea of Mosele and informed Asino that Mosele had no previous convictions.
She said Mosele was in a position of trust and had total access to the house of the complainant. She was entrusted to look after the property of the complainant but stole from her employer.
“In essence Your Worship, she bit the hand that fed her,” she told the magistrate.
Diergaardt, being her bullish self, said the accused did not show any sign of remorse and while a guilty plea was usually seen as remorse, in this instance Mosele had no choice but to plead guilty as the stolen items were found in her house.
She said law enforcement agencies are engaged in a war against crime and that the only way to win that war is for the courts to come on board and impose deterrent sentences to prevent society from taking the law into their own hands.
She recommended a fine of N$5 000 or 12 months in jail.
In mitigation, Mosele said she is an orphan and has an 18-month-old baby who stays with her pensioner grandmother in Otjiwarongo.
She said she lost her job as a domestic worker earning a monthly salary of N$800 at the place where she stole.
She asked the court to have mercy on her and impose a fine of N$700 – N$800, which she said was all she could afford