The Mangochi second grade magistrate court on Wednesday sentenced a man to three years in prison for stealing national identity cards.
The man James Amosi was convicted of robbery with violence.
According to Mangochi Police Station Public Relations Officer Rodrick Maida, the Court heard through state prosecutor sergeant John Makawa that on June 6, 2019 at around 6pm at Mpima Forest, a woman identified as Patuma Saidi met four masked criminals who robbed her of a national identity card.
On September 5, Amosi was arrested at Chimwala area after being found with a number of national identity cards at his house including one belonging to Saidi.
Appearing before court, he pleaded guilty to the charge leveled against him and was convicted. In mitigation, the convict asked for leniency saying he is a breadwinner.
In his judgment, second grade magistrate Augustine Mezaya sentenced the convict to 36 months imprisonment with hard labour.
James hails from village Manyenje in traditional authority Symon in Mwanza.
In a related development, Mangochi second grade magistrate court on Wednesday sentenced Molesi John to 30 months imprisonment with hard labour for burglary and theft.
The court heard through state prosecutor assistant superintendent Efford Kamphonje that during night of May 17, 2019 John broke into a house within Mangochi town.
The thief went away with a laptop, a tablet, technical handset and a purse containing driving licence, traffic registration card, national identity card, national bank ATM card, first capital bank ATM card and K402,000 cash.
Investigations led to the arrest of the convict and recovery of the laptop and cellphone.
Appearing before court, the convict pleaded guilty to the charges leveled against him and was sentenced to 30 months in prison for first count and 18 months for second count. The sentences will run concurrently.
Molesi (20) hails from Kasanga village in traditional authority Katuli in Mangochi.
