A Kisumu man convicted of breaking into a houses and stealing food and electrical gadgets on Friday told a Kisumu court that he was driven by poverty to commit the crime.
30-year-old Nixon Marwa from Kisumu was defending himself before being sentenced to an effective one-year-jail term for three counts of burglary, stealing from a residential house and possession of suspected stolen goods.
The court had earlier heard that in October 25, 2014 Marwa was involved in a burglary and stealing incident. The Prosecution Desk added that in October 27, 2014, Marwa was found in possession of suspected stolen goods.
According to the Prosecution Desk, Marwa committed all the three offences at Nyalenda Estate in Kisumu. He pleaded guilty to all the three charges.
He is said to have stolen foodstuffs and a mobile phone from a home where the owner was away working. During mitigation, Marwa told the court that he did not want to waste the courts precious time over clear issues hence his decision to plead guilty.
The accused, however, had reasons for committing the offences. He blamed abject poverty as the reason behind his motives to resort to criminal activities.
“Your honor, poverty drove me into committing these offenses. I have to take care of my children and wife back home. Since I could not find any job, I chose the criminal way,” said Marwa before Kisumu Chief Magistrate Esther Maina.
Maina commended Marwa for pleading guilty to the charges thereby not wasting court’s time by engaging in a long winding trial over clear issues.
However, Magistrate Maina was quick to point out that poverty was not a reason enough to coerce someone into criminal activities.