CAGED: Phillip Gabriel
A 33- year-old man of Maun got the shock of his life this week when Magistrate Clifford Foroma sentenced him to 10 years in jail for stealing P218. Visibly flabbergasted by the sentence, Phillip Gabriel of Sedie ward asked the court to give him time to go home and collect toiletry and lock his house but instead police offcicers quickly handcuffed him and escorted him to jail right away.
The court heard that on the 20th of April 2012 Gabriel robbed Ketshabile Jane of P218 by twisting his hand, searching him and running away with the money.
In mitigation Gabriel said that he committed the offence because he had no food at home and that he was overwhelmed by the burden of looking after his two kids and their mother.
Magistrate Foroma however made it clear to him that being unemployed was not an excuse to commit a crime.
The magistrate went on to say that robbery was a serious offence that carries a minimum sentence of ten years in jail unless there were extenuating circumstances.
“Being unemployed cannot be taken as an excuse and to make it worse you are not a first offender, so I am forced to go for a minimum sentence.” Gabriel was once convicted of house breaking and theft. He also had a previous conviction of aiding prisoners to escape from custody. He was released in September 2008 and the magistrate said that it looked like he did not learn anything from that. Foroma also instructed Gabriel to return the P218 he stole. He was given 21 days to appeal the sentence. Ogomoditse Soonyana prosecuted while Gabriel conducted his own defence.
IMG_7023 (1)
Ijoo 10 years…hope o tabo a ithutile sengwe ha ngwaga tse lesome di wela….
tlogelang ba mmaakanye. o fitlhela motho a itse go aga mme asa batle di tendara.
Moipolai ga a lelelwe.If it was his first offence i wud say he deserved a good lashing from the tribal court cause he didnt use a weapon.Maybe o tlwafaletse go sela molora.
If i had to give u P218 to free u, i wud do it. To me u are not a thief, u are a hero. I respect a man who wud do anything to put bread on the table for his kids. God forgave u, i forgave u. Bravo to u. U shud have asked the crazy magistrate to take care of your 2 kids when he gave a 10year jail term
He didn’t even think he would go to jail? Wai! A loud and clear message to thieves – stop crime or you’re screwed!
This is a fkd up sht, I just read an article were a paedophile raped an innocent 5 year old gal as revenge to the gals father and he will likely get 10 yrs! now is those carefully planned crimes, rape & paedophile equivalent to a P218 robbery done without any physical damages to the victim nor any use of weapon?? I dont condone what the lad did robbing someone a hard earned cash of P218, but considering the magnitude of his crime, and the fact that he is a family man should have warranted a much less punishment. Now the guy is gonna come back a true criminal of the most dangerous nature, especially that he is pissed off now!!
O tsena efe kereke wena spinach e go reriwang borukhutlhi, o bitsa go thusa magolegwa go thoba mo toronkong go dira paleche? Ba mo gamotse ba re tshabisa go kukuna ba lala ba re kgothosa
ke gone o ta kabologang ditshoka tsamaya o ye toronkong ba ye go go nyala!
o bakile satan,o soka batho matsogo,go a iperekelwa.jel err
Spinach you got it man, bt not physical contact to human body is allowed. ke eng asaye go thuba mo shopong ko go senang ope a tshetsa bana ba gagwe. Kana go lwantsha motho causes a lot of things faa itwela o kgona go fella a dirisa the likes of sharp object. To me stealing is good bt nt physical contact to victims body.
ke gone o bakileng,o ka utswa matsana?O tlogela BMW23i ya mascom ya mahala.
aeyeee kana gatwe banna ga ba latlhane ke tla sala ke tiisa lwapa le mmaabo