LIMPOPO – A 31-ear-old man, Mohale Thabo Rolvey, was sentenced to three years’ imprisonment by the Morebeng Regional Court last week following his conviction in count of contravening Section 3(1) (a) of the Criminal Matters Amendment Act 18 of 2015 destroying essential infrastructure.
The accused was found by ZZ2 security guards while tampering with an Eskom electricity transformer and the police were called.
Mashudu Malabi-Dzhangi, Limpopo Regional Spokesperson for the National Prosecuting Authority, in a media release stated Rolvey pleaded guilty and was found guilty as charged.
In aggravation of the sentence, the State Prosecutor, Moshatane Matome, reiterated the imposition of a discretionary minimum sentence for essential infrastructure-related offences and that it was the will of the Legislature that whoever is found guilty of such offence must be punished accordingly and in consideration of the seriousness and the prevalence of the offence in the court area of jurisdiction.
The state also indicated to the court that people of the ZZ2 area were without electricity for some time while repairing the damage caused by the accused.
The state relied on the penalty in terms of Section 5 (C) (1) of the Act (1) for a first time offender to imprisonment for a period not less than three years and the court did not deviate from minimum sentence.
Rolvey was sentenced to three years’ imprisonment and in terms of Section 103 of the Firearms Control Act declared unfit to possess a firearm.
