Guard arrested with half-a-million dollars claims he wanted to buy a house

WINDHOEK, 23 MAR – A security guard arrested in August last year with over N.dollars 550 000 that belonged to various business outlets in Windhoek, said he stole the money to buy a house for his children.
Jonas Simon Mbangu, 41, said this when he entered his preliminary guilty plea to a charge of theft before Windhoek Magistrate Vanessa Stanley on Friday morning in terms of Section 119 of the Criminal Procedure Act of 1977.
“I stole the money because someone called me saying they are selling a house, so I stole the money to go buy the house for my kids and to this I plead guilty, and I understand the charges,” he said.
The magistrate asked him if the money was in the lawful possession of an Anton Ngola at the time of the theft, however Mbangu stated that he was not aware of a person by that name.
It is alleged that Mbangu, from the Southern Cross Security Company, collected the money in the morning hours of 14 August 2017 from several Windhoek businesses for banking.
However, he abandoned the company vehicle in the capital and fled with the money to northern Namibia.
Otjozondjupa Regional Crime Investigations Coordinator, Deputy Commissioner Naukalemo Andreas said the owner of the company became suspicious when it took too long for the guard to return with the money to their office in Windhoek, and he reported the incident to the police.
A police roadblock was then set up on the road outside Otjiwarongo in the Otjozondjupa Region.
Police arrested Mbangu with the money around 13h30 on 15 August 2017.
The case has been postponed to 16 April 2018 so the docket can be submitted to the Prosecutor-General’s office to make a decision whether to prosecute him or not and on what charges.
The State was represented by Prosecutor Marcus Angula and Mbangu represented himself.
Mbangu is free on bail of N.dollars 5 000, and his bail was extended until his next court appearance.

NAMPA