Byline: Nonjabuliso Nhlambo
21 October 2024
Bethal: The investigating officer attached to stock theft unit in Bethal secured a conviction of a 30 year old man for stealing and slaughtering cattle belonging to a local farmer in Bethal.
His conviction came after he was arrested the owner of the livestock informed the police that she had sixteen(16) cattle in her kraal and on the morning of 29 December 2023, she noticed that fourteen(14) with the estimated value of Seventy-nine thousand rand(R79000.00) were missing from the kraal and upon checking the kraal, she found that the fence was cut opened and the gate forced opened, where a case docket was opened and registered for investigation with Bethal stock theft unit.
Through preliminary investigation, Detective Sergeant Alfred Mthimunye of Bethal Stock Theft Unit and the complainant followed the tracks to search around the neighboring farms and discovered a slaughtering place and recovered five intestines of slaughtered cattle and five live cattle.
Further investigations led to the arrest of three suspects which were charged for theft of livestock.
The three accused, Vimbeni John Mahlangu(36), Mduduzi Hendry Zulu(30) and Senky Aaron Nkosi(36) appeared before Bethal Magistrate’s Court on several occasions and during bail application, only Mahlangu and Nkosi were granted bail of twenty thousand rand each where-else Zulu was denied bail and remanded in custody.
The matter was then taken for trial and during the trial, Mduduzi Hendry Zulu(30) was found guilty for theft of livestock and sentenced to 3 years direct imprisonment while charges against Mahlangu and Nkosi were withdrawn as they could not be linked to the matter.
Zulu was also, in terms of Section 103 Act 60 of 2000 of the firearms Control Act, declared unfit to possess a firearm.
