The Mangochi Senior Resident Magistrate’s Court has sentenced Francis Mphambiwa, a salesman at Tasty Food lndustry to 8 years imprisonment with hard labour for stealing the company’s K10 Million.

The court heard through state prosecutor Amos Mwase that, the convict on December 13, 2021 was given seven trucks of commodities worthy K16 Million to deliver at the selling points along Bakili Muluzi Highway.

He says the convict lied to his boss Muhammad Babar at the head office that he was attacked by robbers who went away with the said amount at Chiponde Trading Centre and was advised to report the matter to Chiponde Police Unit.

The Police visited the scene and later locked him up after they got suspicious that the convict staged the whole scenario.

Mwase added that, during the investigations Mphambiwa failed to locate the selling points where he collected the money that was stolen.

It was also discovered that the convict endorsed fake names of customers on the invoices he produced despite that some of the said customers closed their shops in 2020 due to financial constraints.

Appearing in court, Mphambiwa pleaded not guilty to the charge and the state paraded three witnesses who proved the case beyond reasonable doubt.

In mitigation, Mphambiwa asked for the court’s leniency, citing that he is a breadwinner to his family but prosecutor Mwase quashed his plea while justifying that he betrayed the company and is a threat to the society and other employees will not be trusted because of his behaviour hence prayed for a stiffer penalty.

Passing judgement, Senior Resident Magistrate Rodrick Michongwe concurred with the state and slapped with the sentence to act as a deterrent to other would be offenders.

Mphambiwa hails from Gomanjira Village, Traditional Authority Machinjiri in Blantyre.