BY SILAS NKALA A ZIMBABWEAN man has been jailed four years in Botswana for burglary and theft of property worth over P11 000 from houses in Francistown.
Evidence before the Francistown magistrates court showed that on March 23 this year Abraham Mahlani destroyed burglar bars and padlocks to gain entry into a house belonging to Thandeka Letsholo and Botho Amantle Mokgatle in Francistown’s Maipaafela location.
It is the State case that Mahlani (39) then stole several items, which included a television set, laptop, All-Star shoes, groceries, fridge, microwave, toiletries and a cooking gas cylinder, all valued at P11 335.
The matter was reported to Tatitown police the following day, leading to the arrest of Mahlani.
In mitigation, Mahlani pleaded with the court for leniency, explaining that he wanted to raise money to apply for a driver’s licence.
Instead, the court slapped him with a custodial sentence.
“You are sentenced to four years in prison for burglary and three years for theft. The two sentences are to run concurrently and the sentence is backdated to March 29 when you were incarcerated. Properties stolen will be returned to the owners,” the court ruled.
Another Zimbabwean man, Johane Muwirimi (30) was also arrested for transporting the goods stolen by Mahlani in his Honda Fit.
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Muwirimi was, however, exonerated after he told the police that he was not aware that the goods had been stolen.
Muwirimi, however, failed to produce travelling documents when asked to do so, leading to him being charged with a single count of entering the country illegally.
He was then ordered to pay P1 500 for being in Botswana unlawfully, failure which he would be jailed for six months.
- Follow Silas on Twitter@silasnkala
