S v Mtshali and Another

• Jurisdiction: South Africa
• Judge: Henning J and Miller J
• Judgment Date: 29 March 1967
• Citation: 1967 (2) SA 509 (N)
• Hearing Date: 29 March 1967
• Court: Natal Provincial Division

Miller, J:

In this case, which comes before the Court for automatic review, No. 1 accused was convicted of eight counts of stock theft, for which he was sentenced to nine months' imprisonment in respect of each D count. No. 2 accused was convicted together with No. 1 accused of one count and was sentenced to nine months' imprisonment. The convictions were fully justified by the evidence and there is no difficulty in that regard. Nor is there any difficulty in regard to the sentence imposed on No. 2 accused for the theft of a horse.

E Because the effect of the sentences imposed on No. 1 accused is that he has been sentenced to imprisonment for a total period of six years, the magistrate was asked to furnish his reasons for so sentencing him. Those reasons are now before me.

It appears from the evidence that No. 1 accused (I shall refer to him simply as 'the accused') stole, in all, ten horses, which were the F subject of the eight counts of which he was convicted. In two instances, two horses were stolen simultaneously, each act of theft forming the subject of one count; in respect of the remaining six counts, one horse was stolen on each of six different occasions. No fault can be found with the formulation of eight counts of theft, for there were in truth eight separate acts of theft, nor can the magistrate G be faulted for not treating the thefts or any of them as one for purposes of sentence, or for not ordering any of the sentences to run concurrently. The first of the...