Cattle Stealer Gets 10 Years

A 28-year-old man in Rumphi who has records of theft has been sent back to prison for a jail term of 10 years with hard labour after he was found guilty for stealing cattle.

The convict has been identified as Robert Munthali whole stole two bulls on 23^rd march.

The state prosecutor Sergeant Malumbo Jere told the court that on the evening of the said day, Munthali broke in one kraal where he stole two bulls. The owner the cattle got shocked the next morning to have realized that his two bulls were nowhere to be seen such that he asked butcher men to help him recover the bulls.

In their efforts, the butcher men went to a slaughter house where cattle are killed for sale and found out that the suspect had put the stolen bulls on sale.

They informed the owner about the news and managed to identify the cattle when he visited the scene and the development led the arrest of Munthali.

In court, he pleaded guilty for theft of cattle contrary to section 278 of the penal code prompting the state prosecutor to ask the court to hand him a long custodial sentence since he had previously been convicted two times for theft offences.

In his judgment, Worship Curtbert Phiri of Rumphi First Grade Magistrate Court sentenced Munthali to 10 years Imprisonment with hard labour.

He hails from Kavwala Village I the area of traditional authority Katumbi in Rumphi district.