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Tendai Rupapa Senior Reporter
Three employees — a caretaker, gardener and mechanic — allegedly connived and stole 13 000 chairs worth more than $100 000 from their employer who is into events management and sold them to various people, including churches.

The trio — Geselda Katema (35), James Chiuje (25) and Simbarashe Chiputu (39) — stole the chairs on different occasions, the court heard.

However, luck ran out of them after they allegedly tried to sell close to 300 chairs to a church which had once hired them from the complainant.

A representative of the church identified the chairs and alerted the complainant who, in turn, reported the matter to the police.

Katema was employed as a caretaker while Chiuje was a gardener and Chiputu a motor mechanic.

The three yesterday appeared before magistrate Mr Richard Ramabowa charged with theft of trust property.

They were released on $400 bail each coupled with some conditions and would be back in court on April 30.

Prosecuting, Mr Moses Mapanga alleged that sometime last year, the complainant — Ms Chipo Mazhindu — noticed on different occasions that some of the chairs she hired out were missing.

She decided to conduct an audit in April this year after she kept noticing a decrease in the number of chairs.

She then discovered that 13 000 chairs were missing.

Mazhindu, the court heard, confronted Katema since she was the caretaker but she denied any involvement in the theft.

On April 20, a man identified as Mr Kamuzunguzeni was looking for chairs to buy for their church.

He was then directed by a colleague to Chiuje, who was said to be selling chairs.

Apparently, Mr Kamuzunguzeni had business relations with Ms Mazhindu as his church used to hire chairs from her.

Mr Kamuzunguzeni made arrangements with Chiuje to meet along Seke Road so that he could view the chairs.

It is the State’s case that after meeting with Chiuje, Katema and Chiputu later joined them and they all proceeded to a place in Hatfield where the chairs were said to be stored.

Upon arrival at the said house, Mr Kamuzunguzeni was shown the chairs and expressed interest in buying them.

While they were being loaded into a truck, Mr Kamuzunguzeni identified them and immediately called Ms Mazhindu, who rushed to the scene with her husband.

Ms Mazhindu identified the 260 chairs which had been loaded into the truck before taking the trio to the police.

According to the State, the three led police to the recovery of more than 200 chairs in Eastview where they had sold them to Kuda Bininga and Martin Chirombe.