12 Nov 2020

 Senior Magistrate Thapelo Buang of Ghanzi has sentenced an Indian national and erstwhile employee of MN Hardware to four years imprisonment, three of which were suspended.Harsh Patel (26) would therefore serve a year for an offence of stealing by servant an amount of P19 407.75 from MN Hardware and also ordered to reimburse the money he stole. 

Before pronouncing the sentence on November 11, Senior Magistrate Buang stated that he had considered that the convict was a first offender and did not waste court’s time by pleading guilty, thus showing remorse. 

However, Magistrate Buang said the offence carried custodian sentence of up to seven years. 

“This shows how serious is the crime and involves the breaking of trust between him and the employers, it is worst betrayal.” 

In his mitigation, Patel said his father lost the job in India because of COVID 19; as such his family depended on him. 

He also told the court that he was fired from the job without notice and the company owed him some arrears.

“I have no relatives here, because I only came to Botswana for this job,” he stated referring to the job he recently lost. 

He also expressed commitment to repay the money. ends