Man guilty of stealing from VDC

Mmoloki Machaya has been found guilty of two counts of pilfering from the Village Development Committee (VDC), where he worked as the treasurer.

Chief Magistrate Gofaone Morweng delivered the verdict, stating that the State had proven beyond a doubt that Machaya committed two acts of obtaining by false pretence but fell short on one count.

In 2014, while employed by Otse VDC, Machaya swiped P3,500 from the VDC. Two months later, he pinched another P3,500. The State also claimed he had misappropriated P11,290.20, but failed to prove this.

During the trial, the accused pleaded not guilty to all charges and chose to remain silent when given the chance to defend himself.

“I must remark that the previous prosecutor who handled this matter did some injustice to it as the allegations against the accused person dated back to 2014 and he was only arraigned on the 31st of May 2022. “A few weeks later the same prosecutor resigned from public service, and this was a clear indication that he was simply registering the matter to sanitise his lackadaisical conduct,” the Magistrate said when delivering the judgment.

An audit revealed that there were unauthorised withdrawals from the VDC account, leading to the matter being reported to the police.

“The prosecution’s story was that the accused was responsible for collecting VDC revenue generated through housing and stall rentals. Furthermore, that the accused had misappropriated an amount of P11,290.20 which was generated through the stated business activities,” the judgment further reads.

“After suspicions that he could have appropriated the VDC funds, his handwriting specimen and the control samples of Nyambe were sent to the Criminal Bureau for analysis. His handwriting and signatures on the alleged cheques were established to be consistent with his, and he did not deny the same.

It is therefore my finding that the accused obtained the amounts on count one and count two fraudulently,” the Magistrate further noted in his judgment.

Sentencing will be handed down on Wednesday.

Accused pleaded not guilty to all charges and chose to remain silent when given the chance to defend himself