The Pretoria Specialized Commercial Crimes Court has on Wednesday, November 9, sentenced a Zimbabwean woman, Lady Memory Mutsika to three years imprisonment for 128 counts of theft.
The woman 43, was a church treasurer for the Pretoria City Seventh Day Adventist Church. Her tasks were to transfer tithes and offering money deposited to the church account to the Northern Conference of the Seventh Day Adventist Church.
During four years she transferred more than R800, 000 to her account for personal use.
She pleaded guilty to the court and asked for a non-custodial sentence to pay back the money in five years period.
But the judge seated on the case argued that Mutsika always pledge to pay back and had not paid a cent since March 2022 and therefore a sentence was appropriate.