CRI/S/25/87

IN THE
HIGH COURT OF LESOTHO

In the
matter of :

REX

V

TJONGELISWE
SEHLOHO

JUDGMENT

Delivered
by the Hon. Mr. Justice J.L. Kheola on the 9th day of November, 1987.

The
accused appeared before a magistrate of second class at Qacha's Nek
charged with theft of stock, in that upon or during January
and
March, 1987 and at or near Sefapanong cattle post in Transkei in the
Republic of South Africa, the said accused wrongfully
and unlawfully
stole seven (7) cattle the property or in the lawful possession of
Mathews Manaka and brought them to Sehonghong
in the district of
Qacha's Nek where that Court has jurisdiction. He pleaded guilty to
the charge and also admitted the summary
of the facts of the case
given by the public prosecutor.

The
learned magistrate found the accused guilty as charged and committed
him for sentence by the High Court on the ground that "a
great
number of stock is involved and it is my belief that this accused
needs a greater punishment than I have the power to inflict."

The
complainant is a citizen of the Republic of South Africa. He has a
cattle post at Sefapanong in Transkei. In January, 1987 four
(4) of
his cattle went missing. Again in March 1987 some three cattle went
missing. The disappearance of the cattle was reported
to the police
in Transkei. In June, 1987 all the missing cattle were

2

found in
the possession of the accused. Four of the cattle had their original
earmarks tampered with and different fresh earmarks
had been
superimposed on the old ones. The complainant convincingly identified
all the cattle as his.

I have
thoroughly perused the record and I am satisfied that the accused
pleaded guilty to the charge and that there was abundant
evidence to
support the verdict, I confirm the conviction.

I agree
with the learned magistrate that her powers were limited to deal with
a case of stock theft. She has the power to impose
a maximum term of
imprisonment of twelve months. I wish she had imposed that term of
imprisonment because it takes a very long
time for an accused person
committed for sentence to appear before a judge. In the instant case
the accused was committed for sentence
by the High Court on the 23rd
June, 1987, but the accused only appeared before me on the 9th
November, 1987. I am bound to take
into account the time the accused
has spent in prison after his conviction

The
accused is a young man of about 26 years of age. he is a first
offender; all the cattle he stole have beer recovered. However,
I
must bear in mind the seriousness of stock theft in this country. It
is a very prevalent crime which seriously undermines the
economy of
this country and sours relations between Lesotho and our neighbours.

Sentence.
Twelve (12) months' imprisonment

J U D G
E.

9th
November, 1987.