By YVONNE CHATE? –
A THIRTY-EIGHT-YEAR-OLD man has told a Ndola magistrate’s court that t?he stole beef from Pick n Pay stores in Ndola because he was hungry.
Peter Kabamba of Nkwazi Township in Ndola in his mitigation after he?was convicted of theft, told magistrate Oswald Chibalo that he stole?beef from Pick n Pay because he was hungry.?Facts of the case are that Kabamba on August 29, stole two?packs of beef and two padlocks altogether worth K161 from Pick n Pay?stores in Ndola.
Charles Bwalya a representative from Pick n Pay said he had observed?from the CCTV that a certain man had picked two packs of beef and two?padlocks and hid them in his pants.
The convict then attempted to leave the stores without paying and was?later apprehended by alert security guards.
He was taken to Ndola Central Police Station where the matter was?reported and he identified himself as Kabamba.?After considering the evidence, magistrate Chibalo convicted Kabamba for theft.?Kabamba in his mitigation told the court that he stole the beef?because he was hungry.
“I admit I stole. I was hungry that is why I stole from Pick n Pay.?Don’t send me to jail because I have two children that I look after?who will have no one to look after them if I am put in prison,”?Kabamba said.
When sentencing, Mr Chibalo said he understood that Kabamba was a?first offender but said that others should learn from him so that such?behaviour is reduced in the country.
He sentenced him to one year six months in prison with hard labour.