The so-called Woolworths looter has been sentenced to 18 months of correctional supervision and 16 hours of community service per month in the Durban Regional Court.
The 32-year-old Mbuso Moloi pleaded guilty to a charge of theft from the Woolworths branch in the suburb of Glenwood during the July 2021 unrest. He stole a basket of groceries while the store was being looted.
He also pleaded guilty to having the wrong number plates on his Mercedes Benz, which he forfeited to the state.
Magistrate Melanie De Jager further imposed a 3-year prison sentence and a R1000 fine, which are both suspended for five years.
De Jager told Moloi that it means, in effect, that he will be under house arrest.
“It is still going to give you the opportunity to find employment, to have free time, and to do do whatever you want to – go do shopping or even go to church if you are religious. It’s just going to be that you are at home. So, you will be able to move, or to live your life, but obviously with limitations.”
Despite Moloi distancing himself from the unrest and looting, Magistrate De Jager said it is clear from his plea explanation that he was aware of the unrest and looting going on at the time.
In his plea explanation, Moloi said he stopped at Woolworths at the spur of the moment and acted impulsively.
“That you did not form any common cause, or that you didn’t cause any revolt or cause any damage; or that you didn’t break any damage to any property, this clearly gives the court an indication that you knew that there was a revolt, that you knew these items, stolen, that there were people stealing, and that you knew it was a revolt. So, it cannot be ignored that the circumstances that this had happened, that you were aware of it. However, you were not part of this. The court accepts that.”
