Patricia Dube, a 39-year-old woman who lives in Hwange, Zimbabwe, just got in big trouble. She's going to jail for three years. Why? Well, her neighbor who lives in South Africa trusted Patricia to keep almost $10,000 safe for her. But Patricia spent all that money instead of keeping it safe like she promised.
The neighbor is a 24-year-old woman named Sympathy Moyo. Sympathy does beauty treatments in South Africa. She would send stuff back to Zimbabwe for Patricia to sell. Then Patricia was supposed to hold on to the money Sympathy made. Sometimes Sympathy would even send cash right to Patricia to keep safe too. This went on from March 2022 to December 2023. In total, Patricia got $10,110 of Sympathy's money to watch over.
But it turns out Patricia didn't watch over it at all. She spent every bit of it on herself. When Sympathy came back to Zimbabwe on December 8th, she went to get her savings from Patricia. Patricia took Sympathy to her dining room where she kept the money in a blue box. But when Patricia opened the box, she threw out a bunch of cut-up paper. She claimed Sympathy's money magically turned into paper or just vanished.
Of course, Sympathy didn't buy that crazy story. She called the police right away and they arrested Patricia. They looked in the box and only found $141 left. The rest was all cut-up paper.
The judge who sentenced Patricia said what she did was really bad. She broke the trust Sympathy put in her. The judge gave Patricia three years in jail. But if Patricia pays back the $9,969 she owes Sympathy by January 30, 2025, she'll only have to serve one year. That restitution deadline will decide if Patricia ends up doing the full three years or not.
The neighbor is a 24-year-old woman named Sympathy Moyo. Sympathy does beauty treatments in South Africa. She would send stuff back to Zimbabwe for Patricia to sell. Then Patricia was supposed to hold on to the money Sympathy made. Sometimes Sympathy would even send cash right to Patricia to keep safe too. This went on from March 2022 to December 2023. In total, Patricia got $10,110 of Sympathy's money to watch over.
But it turns out Patricia didn't watch over it at all. She spent every bit of it on herself. When Sympathy came back to Zimbabwe on December 8th, she went to get her savings from Patricia. Patricia took Sympathy to her dining room where she kept the money in a blue box. But when Patricia opened the box, she threw out a bunch of cut-up paper. She claimed Sympathy's money magically turned into paper or just vanished.
Of course, Sympathy didn't buy that crazy story. She called the police right away and they arrested Patricia. They looked in the box and only found $141 left. The rest was all cut-up paper.
The judge who sentenced Patricia said what she did was really bad. She broke the trust Sympathy put in her. The judge gave Patricia three years in jail. But if Patricia pays back the $9,969 she owes Sympathy by January 30, 2025, she'll only have to serve one year. That restitution deadline will decide if Patricia ends up doing the full three years or not.
