Parents can relate to this situation well. You’re shopping with your child for groceries and he is eating a packet of crisps, which he took from the shelf as you moved your attention away for a second to grab some fruit and vegetables. Your child then starts to kick up a fuss as you pay for your groceries, making you forget about the packet in his hand. And now you leave…
Have you got the slip for those chips? Did you pay for them? Are you going to be arrested for shoplifting?
A similar situation was heard in court in a very interesting case. A woman was stopped leaving a department store wearing a pair of shoes that looked new and which were a product that the store had in stock. The security stopped her from leaving the store and management decided to talk to her in the back room.
She said she had bought them the day before and phoned her husband to bring the slip to the store while she waited. She was detained for two hours in the back office of the store, or so she claimed.
She was never charged or arrested, but she decided to try and sue the store for various damages. The court disagreed with her argument and basically said the staff was well within their rights to investigate suspected theft from their shops, as long as they do it reasonably.
Shoplifting is so prevalent in South Africa, we have one of the highest incidences of reported shoplifting in the world. One of the most targeted supermarket items is baby formula, for two reasons. One being that a mother will do anything to feed her child, and another is that the product is always in high demand. Other popular targets are small valuable items such as razor blades and memory sticks.
Shops take theft so seriously because they are losing huge amounts of money. Even when the item is of low value, they will often push to prosecute. Thankfully our courts recognise that the crime is often committed by desperate people and sentence is done accordingly.
