MUTINTA MULAYE writes
@SunZambian
A 51-year old woman of Lusaka’s Makeni area has been ordered to pay K1,700, by the Boma Local Court, for failing to remit to the owner all the monies realised from the sale of laptops.
Senior Local Court Magistrate Sharon Sichone, ordered Evelyn Muchimba to pay the money to Mr. Gibson Lisuli, 43, of Makeni, whose laptops she helped sell but did not give him all the money realised in 2016.
Mr. Sichone told court that Ms. Muchimba, who still owed her K1,700 for the sale of his two laptops, only paid him K1,200 after he involved a church elder.
“She requested for a two months grace period to pay the balance but three months has passed and she has not paid anything,” he said.
Mr. Sichone explained that Ms. Muchimba approached him and assured him her child could help sell the laptops for him, and assured him all went on well after she took the first laptop but has failed to give him all the monies realised from the sales. “She again told me she would sell her gowns and clear my money but nothing has happened up to today,” Mr. Lisuli stated.
But Ms. Muchimba told court that the people she had sold the laptops to were giving her excuses over the payments and that at one point she decided to retrieve them and return them to Mr. Lisuli but he refused to collect them.
“He told me he could not take back the laptops because they had already been used,” she stated.
“He came with an elder from church, and told me to pay K1,200 for one laptop and the other one at the original purchase price but he failed to produce a receipt for it when I requested for it,” Ms. Muchimba stated.
Mr. Lisuli however told court that it was unfair for Ms. Muchimba to give him stories over the payment since 2016 because it was simply an indirect way to refuse to pay the K1, 700 for the other laptop.
“She told me the person who got the laptop gave it to his boss and that he was scared of getting fired if he asked him about it,” said Mr. Lisulu.
He said, “I asked her why I should also be inconvenienced because it the laptop was on sale and not just being given for free. She promised she would follow up and get back to me but she has been quiet.”
The court, in its ruling, stated Ms. Muchimba offered to sell the laptops for Mr. Lisuli on he own accord and it was unfair for her to fail to pay him all his money because he had a right to his property.
Magistrate Sichone ordered Ms. Muchimba to pay the K1, 700 balance by April 2019 month end.
