I was hungry, Your Worship: Burglar

A DANGAMVURA man who broke into houses at night and stole various wares on four different occasions has been slapped with a ninemonth jail term.

Emmerson Mbavarira (28) pleaded guilty to all the theft charges when he appeared before Mutare magistrate Ms Perseverance Makala.

Ms Makala, however, suspended three months on condition of good behaviour.

Mbavarira was also spared jail as the remaining six months were wholly suspended on condition he commits 410 hours of unpaid work at the Mutare Magistrates’ Criminal Court.

Public prosecutor Mr Brighton Shamuyarira represented the State.

The court heard that on July 8 at around midnight, the accused used an unknown object to open Rachel Kachidza’s locked doors.

Once inside, he stole 5 litres cooking oil, 4kg rice, five packets of sausages and went away unnoticed. On the same night, he also broke into another house and stole groceries worth $24.

The following night, he broke into two more houses in Dangamvura and stole groceries worth $20.

On all occasions, he broke into the houses soon after the occupants had retired to bed.

In his defence, Mbavarira told the court that he had acted out of hunger as he was not employed and had no other means of earning a living.

“Your Worship, I beg for forgiveness, I pray that the court lessen my sentence and spare me jail since some of the stolen goods were recovered,” he begged.

Of the $60 worth of groceries stolen only groceries worth $13 were recovered.