A 24-YEAR-OLD student nurse at Gweru Provincial Hospital was last week jailed for an effective six years after he squandered $54 000 that was mistakenly deposited into his CABS account.
BY STEPHEN CHADENGA
Kelvin Kutadza, a final year student at the hospital, withdrew the money that was deposited between July and October last year and converted it to his own use. Kutadza had appeared before provincial magistrate, Pathekile Msipa facing 54 counts of theft.
He pleaded guilty and was initially sentenced to 12 years, but three years were suspended on condition of good behaviour. A further three years were suspended on condition he restitutes CABS the total amount he used.
In his defence, Kutadza had said he was a devoted Christian and believed it was miracle money deposited into his bank account.
He blamed the bank for taking too long to freeze the account after the anomaly.
The State’s case was that between July and October last year, CABS was upgrading its information technology system, resulting in functional challenges in updating accounts balances.
The court heard that each time a client transferred money from the bank into an EcoCash account or any other bank account using the electronic banking system, the system failed to record the correct figures.
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After discovering the bank system failure, Kutadza used his mobile phone between July 5 to September 20 last year to transfer various sums of money from CABS to his EcoCash and MBCA savings account, prejudicing CABS of $54 052,34.
The accused went on to use the money to purchase a house in Mkoba 19 suburb for $32 460 and two non-runner vehicles for $5 500 and $5 000 respectively.
Only $2 384,12 was recovered.
Memory Chitsunge prosecuted.
