The thief who slunk into Herald House three times last month and this month and stole two laptops, surge protectors, power packs, an electric kettle and other equipment was yesterday jailed for an effective 20 months after she pleaded guilty.
Margaret Chitungo (49) of Glen Norah Extension in Harare was initially sentenced to 27 months when she appeared before magistrate Barbra Mateko.
Mrs Mateko set aside seven months of her jail term on condition she does not commit a similar offence within the next five years.
She admitted that on October 17 at around 9am she entered Herald House and went to Juliet Mushayahembe’s work station where she stole a Lenovo laptop, hid it in her handbag and went away unnoticed.
The following day, Mushayahembe reported for duty and noticed that her laptop was missing and reported the theft to the internal security department of the company. The laptop was valued at $70 000.
On November 7, again around 9am Chitungo went to Senior Sports Editor Robson Sharuko’s office, stole a Dell laptop, and hid it in her handbag.
At around 11.30am Sports Editor Collin Matiza visited Sharuko’s office and discovered that the laptop was missing and advised Sharuko who made a police report the following day.
On November 13 at around 7am Chitungo entered the building again and stole two four-way electrical surge protectors, three computer mouses, a USB cable, two electrical external adapters, two laptop power packs, a Scalett electric kettle and two mouse pads.
On November 16, Matiza viewed CCTV footage and managed to identify Chitungo and advised detectives from CID Stores and Business.
Chitungo made indications to the police leading to the recovery of the Dell laptop worth $80 000.