A 36-year-old Nombulelo Amon of Thito Ward in Maun was recently sentenced to two years in prison by the Maun Magistrate’s Court for breaking into a house and stealing property worth over P8000.
Amon is said to have on the 16th October 2022 at Chobe Ward in Maun unlawfully broken into a house belonging to Thabo Magazine and stole an Acer laptop valued at P3000, Techno cell phone valued at P2400, Huawei cell phone valued at P1900, cash amounting to P400, school bag valued at P350 and 2 camp chairs. The 36 year old man was later convicted on his own plea of guilty.
When delivering the sentence, Chief Magistrate Thebeetsile Mulalu said he took into account the convict’s plea of guilty which he said showed that Amon was remorseful and did not waste government’s time and resources.
Mulalu added that he also took into account Amon’s plea for a lesser sentence during mitigation as he noted that he is an orphan and has a minor child to take care of.
The chief magistrate however noted that Amon committed an offence that is prevalent in his jurisdiction and needs to be brought to order. He said the courts of law therefore have the responsibility of insuring that appropriate sentences are imposed.
Mulalu stated that almost on daily basis people’s houses are being broken into and their hard earned property stolen adding that in other times homicide and sexual offences are committed following the burglary intention. “The accused person is therefore sentenced to a prison term of 4 years to which 2 years is suspended on a condition that he is not convicted on an offence with an element of theft during those 2 years. This shall take into account a period of 1 month which the accused person spent in custody pending sentencing,” Mulalu concluded.
