Man gets three years for shop break-in

FRANCISTOWN: A 32-year old man from Tonota will spend the next three years behind bars after principal magistrate, Dumisani Bagopi found him guilty of shop break-in.

Goitseone Machipisa who owns Today, Tomorrow Car Wash in Tonota will also be given five strokes on bare back for breaking into a Cash Bazaar Store (CB) outlet in Francistown on March 6, 2011. With another suspect not before court, he is said to have broken into the store using an assortment of tools. The prosecutor, Inspector Semakaleng Mazibani from Central Police Station told court during trial that the accused was found inside the store by the police and G4S guard who responded to a triggered alarm.  When the magistrate asked him why they committed the crime, he responded that they wanted to steal clothes.

"We broke into the shop because we wanted to steal the clothes," answered Machipisa, who pleaded guilty. A downcast Machipisa shamefacedly murmured that this was not a legal justification to commit the crime when probed further by the magistrate. He was therefore convicted on his own plea of guilty. The car wash owner had other criminal records that were read in court. In 2011, he was convicted on three counts of house break-in and theft. In passing judgement the magistrate said he considered Machipisa's previous record and found that he had taken some time before committing a similar offence.

Editor's Comment
Closure as pain lingers

March 28 will go down as a day that Batswana will never forget because of the accident that occurred near Mmamatlakala in Limpopo, South Africa. The tragedy affected not only the grieving families but the nation at large. Batswana throughout the process stood behind the grieving families and the governments of Botswana and South Africa need much more than a pat on the back.Last Saturday was a day when family members said their last goodbyes to...

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