South Africa: An Argentine requested clemency for the thief who stole him his cell phone

According to the newspaper “The Star” “A fan of Argentina requested clemency for a burglar that had stolen his mobile phone in Johannesburg in the first week of the 2010 World Cup when the South African courts sentenced him to five years of prison.”

In the report they added that “Guillermo Luis Meinero, who was stolen by a thief identified by the acronym HTC on June 12, appealed at the court and told the judge that a sentence of five years was exaggerated.”

And also noted that “The thief, who had no criminal record, pleaded guilty of committing the theft of the mobile after a trial that lasted twenty minutes before the Special Court for the World Cup in Johannesburg on the same day he committed the crime and was arrested for Police in the downtown, an area considered dangerous.”

And that “These special courts began operating in South Africa since the start of the World Cup, on 11 June, and are characterized by very harsh penalties in lightning in the 83 trials where the accused pleaded guilty of the 151 procedures occurred throughout the country.”