adminFloyd Nyoni (48), of 122 Matopos Road was convicted on his own pleas of guilty to two counts of contravening Section 60 a (3) (b) of the Electricity Amendment Act Number 12/2007, Chapter 13:19.
Bulawayo provincial magistrate Mrs Thobekile Mkosana-Matibe sentenced him to the mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years in each count but ordered the sentences to run concurrently.
When the case was taken for review at the High Court, senior Bulawayo High Court judge, Justice Nicholas Ndou with Justice Martin Makonese agreeing, said by making the sentences run concurrently, the trial magistrate effectively reduced the sentence to below the minimum of 10 years per count.
“The trial magistrate has no power to do so. The conviction is confirmed and the sentence is amended by the deletion of the phrase.
“The sentence to run concurrently with the sentence on CRB 653-4/11 for accused one,” said the judges.
It was the ruling of the High Court that after finding no special circumstances, the trial magistrate rightly imposed the mandatory minimum sentence.
They directed Mrs Mkosana-Matibe to explain this change to Nyoni and its effect to his sentence in court.
The State case against Nyoni was that between January and February last year, he teamed up with Thamsanqa Mbaiwa, who is still at large, and they went to the corner of Kirkland Road and Mosedale Road in Hillside where they cut 3×2,5 metres of armoured copper cables.
They used John Nyoni’s vehicle to transport the copper cables to their residence and later to a bottle store in the city where they sold the cables for $50.
They were arrested on 16 February last year leading to the recovery of a hacksaw, vehicle and the copper cables.
Miss Paidamoyo Zengeni prosecuted.
Online Reporter