Maid who stole $107K from her Chinese employer sentenced to nine years in prison

TAKUDZWA HILLARY CHIWANZA

HARARE – A maid in Harare has been sentenced to nine years in prison for stealing $107,000 from her Chinese employer and sharing the loot with two police officers who are now on the run.

Maid who stole from Chinese employer sentenced to nine years

Harare Magistrates Court [Image: ZimSphere]

Marvellous Mapfumo, 34, admitted to the theft in Harare Magistrates Court, where Magistrate Ethel Chichera handed down the sentence, with two years suspended for five years pending good behavior.

Prosecutor Takudzwa Mutyavaviri outlined the case, revealing that Sisi Lin, an accountant at Tian-tian Fresh Mart Supermarket in Highlands, stored cash in a bedroom drawer left unlocked for Mapfumo during cleaning. This enabled her to observe daily deposits.

Mapfumo confided in her boyfriend, Herbert Chikwiza Kurebgwaseka, who advised her to accumulate the money before taking it. On May 30, she stole $107,000 from Lin's drawer.

She split the cash with Kurebgwaseka and another officer, Paul Kondo, who assured protection. They took $60,000, leaving Mapfumo with $47,000, which Kurebgwaseka later claimed for "safekeeping" amid suspicions of being tracked by detectives.

Mapfumo was apprehended near Bulawayo while trying to flee to South Africa in a truck. Following her arrest, she exposed Kurebgwaseka and Kondo.

Kondo subsequently harbored Mapfumo at his girlfriend’s residence in Sunningdale, restricting her communications while arranging her relocation to a rental property in Glen View 3, purchasing goods for her.

Detectives from CID Nkulumane in Bulawayo received intelligence on June 12, 2024, that Mapfumo had boarded a truck to South Africa via Botswana. Acting swiftly, they intercepted her, seizing assets and a Honda Fit linked to the crime.