02 Aug 2020

Jwaneng Magistrate, Mr Odirile Mokgatle says livestock is considered a measurement of an ordinary Motswana man’s worth, apart from being the sole source of economy for many a household, thereby raising a need to be thorough with stock thieves to deter other would be thieves.

Mr Mokgatle was speaking when delivering a sentence in a case which Gobona Ramonna, Thabang Melome, Banyaditse Motsiane and Benson Kobe were jointly charged with stealing a total of 27 goats and sheep valued at P27 000 belonging to Omphemetse Ramooki.

Motsiane however, escaped jail by a whisker after Mr Mokgatle ruled that he was merely collateral, that he was just a victim of circumstances as the crime happened to occur in his presence while the other three were sentenced to seven years, with no part of the sentence suspended. The sentence is also to run consecutive with any existing sentences, or any future ones.

The crime is said to have occurred in February 2017 at Kaduwe lands near Jwaneng, where the trio is said to have jointly and acting in concert, rounded off the said small stock, being 15 sheep and 12 goats while they were grazing before tempering with their earmarks and removing their eartags, replacing them with theirs.

When passing the sentence for the three, Mr Mokgatle said that there was evidence that they had an alternative of making a living through legitimate means rather than resorting to criminal activities. “It has come to my attention that Rammona is a horse trainer and Kobe a professional chef who also had a vehicle through which he was earning a living. Melome was a police officer prior to committing this crime, and all these could enable you to make a legitimate living,” he said.

Mr Mokgatle also indicated that defence attempts by Ramonna and Melome to distance themselves from possession of the stock were quashed by the other accused, Kobe who indicated that his vehicle was used as transport, and that the others were indeed the ones that loaded the stock.

He said that the fact that the stock was moved from Kaduwe all the way to Mosepele at night, a substantial distance, was evidence that there was intention to steal. Mr Mokgatle also said that the fact that accused persons tempered with the earmarks of the stock and replaced the eartags with theirs within the shortest time also said a lot about their intentions.

In his defence, one of the accused, Kobe whose vehicle was used to transport the stock, is said to have told the court that he was only hired to transport at an agreed fee of P1 500, and that after his payment delayed to come forth, he held 11 goats as security.

Mr Mokgatle however, said that his evidence was suspect in that one could not hold 11 goats against a P1 500 debt. “If you held about one or two goats then that would be reasonable, not 11,” he said.

He also said that the fact that he changed the eartags so suddenly left one wondering why he would give up so fast that the payment would never come. He therefore said that that left the court satisfied that Kobe was a shareholder rather than just a transporter as he wanted the court to believe.

Pleading for a sterner sentence, prosecutor, Inspector Edwin Supang reminded the court that Ramonna and Kobe refused to be fingerprinted by the police, an act which Mr Mokgatle also said raised suspicions against their innocence.

“If one has no previous convictions, why would they refuse being fingerprinted because the system would exonerate them if they have no previous convictions,” he wondered. Ends