A 57-year-old woman who has been on a shoplifting spree since the ’80s has been arrested and sentenced to 10 years in prison for theft. The final cherry on the top of her shop-lifting cake that saw her latest arrest were Cotton On leggings.
The last nab took place in Montana in Tshwane, but Desiree Williams is originally from Cape Town. The two pairs of leggings that saw her facing jail time were valued at R798,40.
On a sneaky shopping spree, Williams had tried on the leggings (to see if they’d fit of course) and then snuck them into her bag without paying. It was upon her exit that the store manager stopped her and Williams’ bag of goodies was searched, as George Herald reports.
Williams confessed and pleaded guilty to the charges.
According to Prosecutor Rabia Ebrahim, the ‘harsh’ sentencing over leggings came down to the fact that Williams had been consistent with her shop-lifting hustle since 1981, and no ‘light’ sentence had rehabilitated or deterred her.
“It was in the interest of society to impose a harsh sentence,” said Ebrahim.
It’s far from Williams first rodeo with the law either, as she has 34 convictions for theft under her belt, with 29 of these being over 10 years old.
Picture: Pinterest/ Gypsy