Police clerk steals R44 900
2010-11-18 18:45
Cape Town - A Western Cape woman was convicted on Thursday of stealing R44 900 in a matter of weeks while working as a financial clerk for the police.
Shawnette Mapuma, 35, pleaded guilty in the Bellville Specialised Commercial Crime Court.
Legal Aid defence attorney Haley Lawrence, said Mapuma had been forced to resign her job when the theft was discovered, but that she had repaid the amount in full from her pension contributions.
She suggested a suspended jail sentence.
Lawrence said Mapuma had first worked in the police Emergency Call Centre, before her transfer to the Nyanga police station as a financial clerk.
Her duties had been to receive money, such as firearm licence fees, from surrounding police stations, to issue receipts, and to record the payments on the computer capturing system.
Each day, she had to deposit monies received into a bank account.
According to the charge sheet, she failed to make such deposits from April 1 to May 12 last year.
The theft was discovered when the officer in control of the financial registers found that money received had not been deposited.
Prosecutor Juan Agulhas said Mapuma was caught out when she tried to replace stolen money, and an internal audit established that amounts totalling R44 900 had not been deposited.
The matter was postponed to December 7.
- SAPA
