FIRE-STARTER’S POCKETS BURNT
Court orders woman to pay P18,000 for burnt car
Being offended will never justify criminal behaviour.
This is the strong message Molepolole Magistrates’ Court put across this week when it ordered a woman who burnt her boyfriend’s car to ashes in a fit of anger to repay him the full cost of the vehicle.
Guilty of causing malicious damage to property, 35-year-old Thato Thobega from Mmankgodi village was ordered to pay her ex-boyfriend, Kananao Pholo, P18 000, being the value of the Corolla which she had destroyed by fire.
The offence carries a maximum sentence of a prison term not exceeding five years or a fine, so considering her plea that she was the primary caregiver of her children, Magistrate Majuta settled for a fine.
During sentencing on Monday, Pholo told the court that he needed the P18 000 compensation, which Thobega had also agreed was fair.
She then promised the court that she would pay P9 000 by the end of the month and the other half in May.
Thobega burnt the car in revenge when she suspected that Pholo, who is also her baby daddy, was cheating on her using the same car.
“The accused has indicated that she has three minor children and is a breadwinner at home, and she is also a first offender. I have also considered that the offence is very serious and noted that the accused will compensate in two months,” said Magistrate Majuta, further sentencing Thobega to two years imprisonment suspended for two years on condition that she did not commit a similar offense.
The court heard that on the day that the Corolla was torched, at around 1300hrs, Pholo had driven to Gaborone from Mmankgodi.
In Gaborone, he received a phone call from a jealous Thobega demanding to know his whereabouts and then requesting him to pass by her place in Gaborone West.
Upon arrival at G-west, Thobega got into the car and asked to be taken to a petrol station to buy petrol for her sister’s generator in Mmankgodi.
On the way back to Mmankgodi, the duo got into a heated argument and Pholo decided to drive to a police station in Thamaga to report Thobega for hurling insults at him.
While still narrating the story to the police, Pholo was shocked to see a cloud of smoke rising from his car.
He then rushed to the motor vehicle where he met Thobega getting out of the car boasting that she had set the car on fire and she was therefore going to report herself to the police.
In the end, the court also ordered Thobega to remove the burnt car rubble from the police premises.