20 Jun 2016

Lobatse chief magistrate, Mareledi Dipate has slapped a hand bag snatcher who has been terrorising residents in the streets of Pitikwe location to five years in prison.

Phenyo Tlou (22) from Lobatse, who is unemployed stood charged with a single count of attempted robbery after it was alleged that, on June 8 near Pitikwe, he attempted to rob Goitseone Motukwa her brown handbag valued at P100, containing her black Huawei cellphone valued at P1 200, black purse valued at P30 containing her Jet Credit Card, national identity card, FNB card and Bank ABC ATM cards all valued P1 330.

It is said Tlou was interrupted by the appearance of a one known student to the complaint and he fled the scene empty handed.

When delivering judgement, Magistrate Dipate said no citizen was liable to be deprived of her/his hard earned property because the victims ended up being exposed to trauma since they were subjected to violence during the unlawful acts.

He said the court of laws needed to send strong messages to the perpetrators in order to protect the citizens and also to promote trust between citizens and the judicial system.

“Your sentence will run concurrently effecting from the date you were detained,” he said. ENDS