A 14-year-old boy of Lusaka’s Chawama Compound has admitted stealing a mountain bike worth K1,600 in the Magistrates’ Court, saying he wanted to buy school shoes for himself after passing to Grade 10.

This is the matter in which the 14-year-old juvenile is facing one count of theft.

Particulars of the offence allege that the juvenile on January 7, 2019, in Lusaka, stole one mountain bicycle valued at K1,600.

And when the matter came up for plea before Magistrate Nsunge Chanda, Tuesday, the juvenile, who is the first born in the family of five, pleaded guilty.

Asked why he stole, the 14-year-old said he wanted to sell the bike so that so that he could buy shoes for school after passing to grade 10.

Asked if he had told his mother about his plans of stealing, the juvenile said no.

He, however, said after he had told his mother, who was in the business of selling tomatoes that he wanted shoes, she asked him to wait so that she could look for money.

“She said ‘wait, let me look for money.’ I waited. But I stayed for a long time in the compound,” the juvenile narrated.

The matter comes up on February 5 for facts, sentencing and social welfare report.