CRI/A/52/84

IN THE
HIGH COURT OF LESOTHO

In the
Appeal of :

JOHN
THULO MOJAKI

v

REX

REASONS
FOR JUDGMENT

Filed by
the Hon. Chief Justice Mr. Justice T.S. Cotran on the 4th day of
September 1984

On the
27th August 1984 I dismissed the appeal against conviction and
sentence without calling upon Crown Counsel to argue. I said
reasons
will be filed later and these now follow.

The
appellant Mojaki was convicted of theft of M1,000 and sentenced to
twelve months imprisonment. There are many grounds of appeal
but
there is no need to refer to anyone of them specifically.

The
evidence before the magistrate was to the effect that the appellant,
who was a fairly senior messenger of many years standing
in the
Subordinate Court of Maseru, had received from a Judgment debtor the
sum of M2,000 in cash for transmission to Cooper &
Sons, a firm
of attorneys, representing payment (or part payment) to a Judgment
creditor. The appellant paid Cooper & Sons
M1,000 only. He got a
receipt for this sum. He took the receipt to the Judgment debtor.
When the Judgment debtor looked at the
receipt he noticed some
tampering in the figure "2" and in the word "two"
(Exhibit C). He told the appellant
that he was not happy with the
receipt and would he

2

please go
back to Coopers and get a fresh receipt. It seems that a magistrate
or someone in the registry of the Maseru Subordinate
Court informed
the police before the Judgment debtor himself took action on the
matter and investigations commenced. The appellant
had not obtained a
fresh receipt from Coopers.

The
appellant's defence was that he was given only M1,000 by Judgment
debtor to pay Coopers, not M2,000. This defence was not believed
by
the trial officer and rightly so for it was an obvious and blatant
lie.

The
appeal against conviction and sentence was dismissed.

The
original receipt book of Coopers bearing Nos. 601-900 may now be
returned to attorneys but copies of the documents Exhibits
B1 and C
to be retained in the file

.

CHIEF
JUSTICE

4th
September 1984

For
Appellant : Mr. Moorosi

For
Respondent : Mrs. Bosiu