CATHCART – The Lesotho National, Teboho Letsie (56), was captured and sentenced by the Cathcart Regional Court to ten years direct imprisonment after convicting him on a charge of stock theft. The undocumented immigrant was a resident in the Cathcart district when he committed the crime of stealing 159 merino pure-breed sheep from Hilling Farm in this district.
This crook pleaded guilty and explained that he left his home at about 18:00 on the 7th April 2022 to the farm owned by Duncan Currie. Upon his arrival he decided to stay on the mountain waiting for the darkness.
When the farmhouse lights went off, he went down the mountain to the kraal where the sheep were kept and drove them out of the kraal.
About two weeks later, the members of cathcart community noticed the sheep and went straight to this man’s house for enquiry. They asked him some questions but he failed to provide satisfying answers, police were called the immediately. The police arrived on time and arrest the robber, then handed the sheep over to the rightful owner.
Teboho Letsie did not deny the fact that he slaughtered one of the sheep and he also planned to sell some of the sheep and keep some for himself.
Advocate Thango Pangalela, Senior Public Prosecutor stated that stock theft is committed in an organised fashion and disputed that Letsie could drive such a huge flock on his own. “Stock theft is very prevalent in the Eastern Cape and most people are dependent on livestock farming for their economic livelihood due to the agrarian nature of the province,” argued Advocate Pangalela.
Eastern Cape Director of Public Prosecutions, Barry Madolo, hailed the sentence as the desirable deterrent to stock thieves who seem to be operating with impunity because they escape with lenient sentences compared to the damage they cause to farmers. He commended the community of Cathcart for their vigilance and cooperation with the police.
