Magistrate tells thief to repent after serving sentence

A 20-YEAR-OLD man was jailed six months by the Mt Hagen District Court after pleading guilty to stealing from college students on Aug 30.
In sentencing, magistrate Lydia Karre told Robert James to repent after serving his sentence.
Police told the court that on Sept 3, James entered the Mt Hagen Technical College at about 5am and stole a Samsung Galaxy mobile phone valued at K500 and a pair of shoes.
James then hid the items in a banana garden and returned to steal a laptop costing K1,500.
He was then caught by students.
Karre lamented that theft was a major concern and said the maximum sentence was K4,000 fine and two years jail with hard labour.