Byline: Refeloe Letsoisa
14 August 2024
A 42-year-old, Cyprian Dumisani Manana, was convicted by Bethal District Court on Monday, 05 August 2024, for shoplifting that was committed at the PEP store in Bethal Mall on 27 May 2024.
It is alleged that the accused entered the store, and while in the store, he stood next to it and took wireless earphones from the shelf unlawfully and intentionally put them in his bag, leaving the store without paying.
An employee who was on lunch at the time of the incident presented her testimony before court and stated that she noticed the man removing a pack of headphones from the shelf and ran away using the exit towards the taxi rank, whereby she screamed for help, and security gave chase and apprehended him.
Upon apprehending him, a search was conducted on him, and three (3) packs of Amplify VIC headphones valued at four hundred and fifty rand (R450) were found inside his black bag without any proof of purchase.
The police were summoned to the scene, and the accused was handed over to the police with stolen property, and the matter was reported for investigation.
During the investigation, police discovered that the accused has previous convictions related to the same offence that he committed in Ermelo and Hendrina, respectively.
The accused appeared before Bethal District Court facing a charge of shoplifting or theft on several occasions, and during his trial, the magistrate did not hesitate to convict him of three (3) years of direct imprisonment.
In terms of Section 103 of Act 60/2000 of the Firearms Control Act, Manana was declared unfit to possess a firearm.
