Magistrate sympathises with teenage vehicle thief

The magistrate told the prosecutor that prison was not safe for youngsters. She said she could not jail a person born in 1990. "Small boys do not steal vehicles. They just go around to impress girls for some time," she said in the case where Lucy Morapedi has pleaded guilty to stealing a motor vehicle on January 22 in Tonota. "It was a silly act by a young boy. My conscience tells me that I cannot send him to prison," the magistrate said. Morapedi told the court that he went to the home of her maternal aunt and took the car to Selibe-Phikwe with some of his friends. "We had something cool," he said.

The prosector Mothusi Dintwa who wanted Morapedi behind bars submitted that they have some difficulties because Maun police want the suspect for theft common. It is said Morapedi stole P5,000 from his girlfriend who is supposed to go for studies education in Malaysia. Hence Dintwa applied that he should be remanded in custody.