WINDHOEK – Magistrate Justine Asino on Monday fed-up with the number of trivial cases that land before her each day fined Onesmus Shivute (33) N$200 or, should he default, 30 days imprisonment for stealing a wooden pole worth an estimated N$90.
Shivute initially did not want to plead guilty to a charge of theft as he argued he did not steal the item in question. A clearly frustrated Asino enquired from the accused if he in fact wanted to steal the pole, to which Shivute replied that since it was his intention to steal the pole he is willing to plead guilty to a charge of attempted theft. The charge was accepted and Shivute was convicted accordingly.
According to him on Thursday last week he walked past a building site when he noticed the pole lying there. As he was about to remove it from the site a security guard chanced upon him and he was arrested and the pole was recovered. He posted bail of N$200 after being formally charged by the police. In mitigation Shivute said that he is married with three minor children aged 8, 5 and 2 respectively. According to him he lives in the Brakwater area where he is also employed by a Chinese construction company as a builder earning a salary of N$1 500 per month. He informed the court he could only afford a fine of N$200 and pleaded for mercy from the court.
Asino concluded that while the offence is indeed serious and prevalent, especially in the Windhoek district and that society needs to be protected, the accused is a first offender and showed remorse and the value is minimal and the item was recovered, before delivering the sentence.
By Roland Routh