A MAN who admitted he stole five head of cattle in the Okahandja district in March this year received a prison term of 10 years on a charge of stock theft in the Windhoek Regional Court yesterday.
Stock theft is a serious offence and something which the court will not deal with lightly, magistrate Vanessa Stanley said during the sentencing of Botha Hukununa (41), a month after Hukununa admitted guilt on a charge of stock theft in the Okahandja Magistrate’s Court.
The magistrate also remarked it was aggravating that Hukununa had been convicted of stock theft previously as well.
Hukununa was charged with the theft of five head of cattle that were stolen in the Hochfeld area north-east of Okahandja on 18 March this year.
The cattle he stole and then slaughtered were valued at about N$25 000.
Addressing the magistrate before his sentencing yesterday, Hukununa said he eked out a living making and selling fencing poles. He also said he had five children and was supporting his mother.
“The struggle to survive is real and this is why I committed the crime,” he said.
Public prosecutor Oscar Sinvula told the court that although Hukununa admitted guilt, the evidence against him was overwhelming, as he was caught red-handed while transporting the carcasses of the cattle he had slaughtered.
Stanley said Hukununa had been convicted of stock theft near the end of July 2015 as well.
He was sentenced to three years’ imprisonment, of which half was suspended for a period of five years, for that crime.
The suspended part of that sentence would in all probability now be put into effect, the magistrate said.
She sentenced Hukununa to 10 years’ imprisonment, with no portion of the sentence suspended this time around.
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