adminSenior Court Reporter
THE two unrepentant Bulawayo women who were nabbed for stealing six hair pieces worth $45 at a local supermarket and sticking them between their thighs, will for the next seven months languish in jail.Western Commonage magistrate Tancy Dube heard how on New Year’s Eve Thandiwe Shamiso Mpofu, 19, of New Lobengula and Tutsirai Barbra Ncube, 23, of Old Pumula, a day after they were sentenced to community service for shoplifting, teamed up and went back to the same shop and stole six hair pieces. The two were supposed to have started community service on Thursday together with the other four accomplices operating as a syndicate.
The court heard that Mpofu and Ncube connived and went to Choppies Supermarket at Nkulumane Complex disguised as shoppers and stole six hair pieces.
The two together with four other women had on the previous day been convicted by the same magistrate on their own pleas of guilty to shoplifting.
They were sentenced to six months in jail of which three months were suspended for five years on condition that they did not within that period commit a similar offence.
The remaining three months were further suspended on condition that they perform 105 hours of community service. Prosecuting, Frank Ncube told the court that on the evening of December 31, 2013, Mpofu and Ncube teamed up and went to the supermarket.
Soon after entering the shop, Ncube and Mpofu first took a fleeting look around the building apparently to make sure that the security guards were not on the lookout.
Satisfied that no one was watching them, the two women quickly picked six hair pieces worth $45 and thrust them in between their thighs.
Lawrence Ndebele, a security guard, who had placed the two shoplifters under surveillance, intercepted them just as they tried to walk out of the shop without paying.
They were searched leading to the discovery of the stolen items hidden in their panties. The two shoplifters were taken to the police station leading to their arrest.
Asked by the magistrate why they stole, the unfazed women responded: “We wanted to sell the items so that we could raise money for food.”
Dube shot back: “It does not make sense. You were here in this court on Monday facing similar charges and you were convicted. Surprisingly before you hadn’t even started to perform community service you decided to go back and commit the same offence.”
Ncube and Mpofu were convicted on their own pleas of guilty to shoplifting and sentenced to four months in jail.
The other three months which were initially suspended in the previous conviction were subsequently brought in.
Online Reporter