The Sunday News
Jean Sigauke, Sunday News Reporter
A PLUMTREE woman has been slapped with a four months jail term with the option of a $30 000 fine after she was convicted of having detonators without a licence.
She claimed they were to be used at a mine and that she didn’t know they required a licence.
The woman, Sikhathele Moyo (37) appeared in court last week facing charges of possessing explosives at her tuckshop in Mphoengs area, Plumtree.
She appeared before Plumtree magistrate Mr Arafat Khozanani and she pleaded guilty to charges of illegal possession of explosives without a permit.
The eleven detonators were found in her tuckshop in Mphoengs area when police searched her shop.
She claimed that the detonators were meant for use at the mine and that she was just keeping them safe at her shop.
The court found her guilty and fined her $30 000 or alternatively four months imprisonment.
Meanwhile, a 37-year-old Plumtree man appeared before the same magistrate for assaulting a 12-year-old boy who had hauled insults at him after reprimanding him and his friends for stealing mangoes at his homestead.
The State case, as presented by the prosecutor Mr Foster Makhuvere, is that Funel Dube (37) from Diba village assaulted the minor with a stick all over the body for insulting him after he had confronted them and told them that it was wrong to steal mangoes, which he said they were doing frequently.
He pleaded guilty to the assault charges and was sentenced to four months in prison which were suspended on condition he performs 140 hours of community service at Mabuleni Clinic in Magama area.
The court heard that the boy along with a group of his friends were in the habit of proceeding to Dube’s homestead where they would steal mangoes.
On the day in question, the group of boys were confronted by Dube and reprimanded from where the boy allegedly insulted Dube. It was the State case that this did not go down well with Dube who took a stick and assaulted the boy all over his body.
The matter was reported to the police leading to Dube’s arrest and his subsequent appearance in court.
