Durban - An opportunistic whiskey thief, who was sentenced to serve nine months in jail, has instead been given the option of paying a fine by two judges hearing his appeal.
Paul Ncwane, 26, had pleaded guilty in the Scottburgh Magistrate’s Court to one count of theft of alcohol worth R800.
Evidence before the trial magistrate was that in July 2015, while visiting a pub in Umzinto, he had stolen five bottles of whiskey while the barman’s attention was diverted. He sold the whiskey and pocketed the money.
While he was a first offender and had a job, the magistrate sentenced him to direct imprisonment. KwaZulu-Natal appeal Judge Rishi Seegobin (with Judge Nompumelelo Radebe concurring) said through his guilty plea that Ncwane had shown a measure of remorse.
The judge said the magistrate had overemphasised the gravity of the offence while paying little attention to Ncwane’s personal circumstances or any other alternative forms of sentence aimed at rehabilitation.
He set aside the sentence, instead imposing one of nine months’ imprisonment or a fine of R3 000. He suspended half of each for five years.
In another appeal matter, the judges confirmed a 15-year sentence given to a robber who used a plastic gun to rob a woman of her bag containing her cellphone and cash.
Nthuthuko Magic Zincume was convicted and sentenced in the Ngwelezane regional court. Evidence was that the crime was committed in daylight when the complainant, a women working at a nearby shop, was returning home. She was confronted by two men, one of whom pointed the gun at her.
A few days later she recognised one of the robbers when he came to the shop. When she next saw him as he walked past the shop she followed him to establish where he lived and then alerted the police. The toy gun was discovered on his arrest.
Judge Seegobin said the evidence showed that the identity of Zincume as the robber was beyond doubt.
“The appellant was convicted of a very serious offence in which a firearm was used. I can find nothing wrong with the sentence,” he said.
The Mercury