Ndwamato Chester Muravha, a 24-year-old shoplifter, was sentenced to nine years’ imprisonment by the Makhado (Louis Trichardt) magistrate’s court last week.

Muravha was convicted on three charges of shoplifting on Tuesday, August 29. He had several previous convictions where he was given the option of paying fines in admission of guilt.

Despite this, Muruvha was again arrested for shoplifting and released with a warning to appear in court. He ran away, however, ignoring the warning and was later traced and arrested by the police.

The court decided to combine all three charges against Muravha, who has nine previous convictions against him. He was sentenced to three years imprisonment on each charge. The prosecutor requested that the court should sentence Muravha to a direct prison sentence, as the fines were not enough to stop him from criminal activities.