A man convicted of stealing 30 sheep has been handed a 15-year jail sentence.
National Prosecuting Authority spokeswoman Natasha Ramkisson-Kara says 39-year-old Mzwandile Hlwili’s three co-accused were also handed stiff sentences in the Kokstad Regional court this week, with sentences of 10 and 12 years.
The four were arrested after police pulled over their overloaded bakkie. Police discovered 30 sheep, 24 of which had suffocated to death.
Ramkisson-Kara said one of the four men admitted to police that the sheep had been stolen from a farm in the Cedarville area.
The four pleaded not guilty and in their defence implicated each other.
