A young father of three who for two months stole household items worth R15 000 from Boardmans to help make ends meet was sentenced on Thursday to 300 hours’ weekend jail.
Cape Town magistrate Piet Burger gave Dawood Norshib (25) a week to prepare, and warned him to report to the prison authorities at 3pm next Friday.
Norshib told the court he worked in the receiving department at the Boardmans Century City branch, and had a key to the back door.
Among the items he stole were a domestic trolley and braai equipment.
Asked why he did it, he said: ”I am married with three children, including a six-month-old baby, and just couldn’t make ends meet.” He said he wanted to ”settle this with Boardmans”, but the magistrate responded: ”Unfortunately this is a criminal case, not a civil matter that can be settled.”
Burger said Norshib had sentenced himself to jail from the moment he stole the very first item.
Asked why he had continued for two months, he replied: ”I wasn’t thinking straight — I had too many debts, and was not making ends meet.” Norshib, who pleaded guilty, said it would never happen again.
The magistrate replied: ”I’m sure it won’t — you’re not working there any more.” The magistrate said the fact that Norshib was struggling financially did not give him the right to steal.
He added: ”You were fortunate to have a job, yet you abused a position of trust. You only had debt, but at least you had a job which most people do not have. If you don’t earn a decent income, you should not have three children.”
Burger warned him: ”If you had dared to plead not guilty, and wasted the court’s time, I would have sent you to jail for three months.”
The magistrate agreed with prosecutor Margo Jacobs that Norshib’s abuse of trust had made the theft much more serious. – Sapa