A MAGISTRATE has handed out the longest sentence for stock theft in Zimbabwe’s history – 47 years for a cattle rustler.

Zakaria Chigome, 46, will not see beyond prison walls until he turns 83 after 10 years were suspended from his sentence.

Masvingo magistrate Timeon Makunde handed out the record jail term after hearing how Chigome stole 21 cattle over two days in June last year from the Gledhow Farm on the outskirts of Masvingo and sold them to the Kismet Abattoir in the city.

The magistrate found that the man’s crime was particularly repulsive as 11 cows in the stolen herd had calves.

Police swooped on the Kismet paddocks and recovered eight cattle moments before they were slaughtered. They also recovered four hides.

Chigome, from Masvingo’s Sisk suburb, sobbed in the dock as he was sent away to begin his sentence.

The magistrate refused to hear his sob story of being his family’s breadwinner – telling the thief only a lengthy jail term would deter would-be thieves.