A 19-year-old man, a resident of Gaborone, was this week arraigned before Urban Customary Court President, Kgosi Dikwalo, charged with theft.
Kabelo Tshiping, 19, who is unemployed, pleaded guilty to the charges of stealing from a person and asked the Urban Customary Court to show mercy when sentencing him because he was still young.
According to the evidence given to the court by the State Prosecutor from the Central Police, Constable Ditiro Phirinyana, the accused saw the complainant, who is 13 and a Standard Six pupil in Gaborone, as he was going to the shops at the Main Mall and asked for P5 from him.
Phirinyana told the court that after the accused demanded P5 from the young boy, the complainant told him that he did not have any money. The accused then asked him if he had a cell phone and proceeded to twist the boy’s arm and to forcibly remove the cell phone before bolting away with it. The accused was later arrested after a long chase by a security officer, with the help of some members of the public. The cell phone was recovered.
The court heard that Kabelo was a serious criminal who planned what he wanted to do before he robbed the complainant.
Before passing the sentence, Kgosi Monametsi told the court that what the accused did, robbing a young person, was unacceptable and that the accused deserved to go to jail.
He, however, sentenced him to one year in jail, wholly suspended for three years, plus four strokes on the bum.
