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Plaxcedes Hove  Court Reporter
A 21-YEAR-OLD man from Nkulumane suburb has appeared in court for stealing a mobile phone at ZRP Nkulumane while he was serving a community service sentence for another offence.Nhlanhla Dube was sentenced to perform community service at Nkulumane Police Station for unlawful entry and theft.

Yesterday, he appeared before Western Commonage Provincial magistrate Willard Maphios Moyo facing a charge of theft after stealing a phone belonging to a man who was also serving a community service sentence at the same police station.

Dube pleaded guilty and said he had wanted to sell the phone to raise money to pay medical bills for his pregnant wife.

Magistrate Moyo sentenced him to 15 months in prison.

He will serve an effective 10 months after five months were suspended on condition that he does not commit the same offence.

Prosecuting, Kingstone Mkanganwi said Dube was not a first offender.

“Dube is not a first offender. The court was lenient in passing sentence on his first crime and was given a community service sentence,” he said.

The court heard that on September 12 at around 11AM at ZRP Nkulumane, Dube stole Brighton Buru’s Nokia E63.

Dube and Buru were both performing community service at the same station.

When Buru noticed his phone was missing from where he had left it, he asked Dube who denied stealing it.

The value of the phone is $120.

The phone was recovered in Mzilikazi and Dube confessed to stealing it, and he was arrested.

Dube told the court that he stole the phone in a bid to sell it and pay for his wife’s medical expenses.

“Your Worship, have mercy on me please.  I stole the phone so that I could sell it and pay for my wife’s hospital bills. She is pregnant and expecting anytime from now. I do not have any source of income,” he said.