Two Tsau men paid a painful price for their naughty ways on Tuesday, when Maun Magistrates Court sentenced them to five strokes each for stealing Copper cables from Botswana Telecommunications (BTC).
The duo, 21-year-old Sherpard Gaerene and Monnaathebe Moroka, 32, nicked the cables from BTC connectivity in Tsau, some 140k from Maun, on a date not exactly known to the prosecution.
The pair, who readily pleaded guilty to theft, were busted when the bus taking them to Maun was stopped at a police roadblock and all the passengers’ bags were searched.
In her judgment, Magistrate Keneilwe Kgoadi noted the court was moved to temper justice with mercy as the men were first-time offenders and did not benefit from the crime as they were nabbed before they could sell the stolen cables.
“They did not say much during their mitigation; they were frightened as it was their first offence,” stated Kgoadi.
However, although she spared them jail time, the Magistrate ruled their bottoms would pay the price for their sticky fingers, sending them on a hot date with the sjambok.
