Chisamba MP, Moses Muteteka appeals against jail sentence

CONVICTED Chisamba Member of Parliament (MP) Moses Muteteka has contested his five-year jail sentence for theft of a vehicle.
Muteteka, 43, submitted to the Lusaka High Court that the lower court erred in law and facts when it was jailed him for five years for theft without proving the ingredients of the case.
He was facing one count of theft of a motor vehicle, in which it is alleged that on May 24, 2010, he stole a Mitsubishi Fuso light truck valued at K75,000, belonging to Chibombo District Council in Chisamba Constituency.
Muteteka registered the vehicle, ABX 3529, in his name but defended this move by saying the people in his constituency had petitioned him to use his personal vehicle because it was more convenient than their constituency vehicle.
But senior principle magistrate Aridah Chuulu jailed him five years and said the parliamentarian should have known that the vehicle was bought using public funds and as such, it was wrong to change its ownership.
In his appeal, Muteteka said the cardinal ingredients of theft which was permanent deprivation had not been proved in that the alleged motor vehicle was returned to the owners.
The convict also submitted that the lower court erred in law and fact when it proceeded to convict him in the face of clear evidence on record to the effect that there was swap of motor vehicles as opposed to permanent deprivation which defeated the intention of theft.
Muteteka indicated in his grounds of appeal bundles that Magistrate Chuulu erred when she convicted him while there was evidence showing that he merely exchanged the motor vehicles with Chisamba Constituency at the time of arrest and that there was no loss occasioned.
The appeal hearing had been reserved for June 19th.