Planning to enjoy an illicit Saturday night snack, a hungry herdboy will instead dine in on prison food for the next five years after pleading guilty to stock theft.
To add insult to John Ngwagawarona’s pain, he was busted before he got to enjoy the stolen cow meat.
Appearing before Francistown Magistrates Court on Wednesday morning, Ngwagawarona admitted stealing and skinning a calf from a neighbour’s farm at Nyonyobe cattlepost on 15 July.
The 30-year-old’s explanation that his actions were driven by poverty and intense hunger failed to save him from a lengthy stretch behind bars.
“I stole the calf because of hunger. I wasn’t paid for two months and had nothing to eat. I decided to steal the calf and killed it for food; unfortunately I was arrested before I ate it,” the Mabesekwa man told court in quiet, nervous tones.
Looking understandably lost and unsure in the dock as it was his first time to fall foul of the law, the herdboy repeated his excuse over and over again like a mantra: “I stole the calf for botsogo (food).”
After being convicted on his guilty plea, in mitigation the disheveled Ngwagawarona once again reiterated he would never have taken the animal – valued at P3, 000 and belonging to one Dikgang Nkemelang – if he had any food at home.
“Life has been difficult on my side; where I lived I was far from other people that is why I failed to ask for help,” he added meekly.
His emotional words were not enough to move Magistrate, Tshepo Magetse, who noted stock theft is a big problem in Botswana and thus examples must be made.
“Courts have to aggressively react to these cases so it sends a strong message to other people who might think of committing the same crime,” maintained Magistrate Magetse, before handing down the minimum sentence of five years.
Ngwagawarona was arrested after Kgomo Khumo operation received information that he was in possession of a carcass suspected to be stolen.
When the police arrived at the cattlepost and questioned him, he voluntarily removed the meat hidden inside his kraal and from behind his house.
He was also found with the calf’s head and hooves, with the right ear branded ‘thako ya phala’.
The meat has since been disposed as it was no longer fit for human consumption.
