🇲🇺 Supreme Court tears up a magistrate's jail terms for a theft at 16

Supreme Court tears up a magistrate's jail terms for a theft at 16

Two Supreme Court judges threw out a pair of jail terms on 2 October, finding the magistrate who imposed them had gotten it wrong in principle. Prithvi Kumar Roopnauth, now 23, had been sentenced to seven and eight weeks over two thefts at Belle Vue Maurel back in November 2018, when he was just 16.

Justices Aruna Devi Narain and Denis Mootoo said the magistrate barely explained himself, leaning on cryptic shorthand such as "Ct considers gp; remorse BA coop; CR; family commitments" where reasons should have been. He had not properly weighed the boy's age at the time, they found, nor the alternatives to prison for a first offender who had already pleaded guilty.

The paperwork was careless too. One committal warrant recorded eight months instead of eight weeks. It is a rare public rebuke of sitting magistrate, and a plain reminder that abbreviations are not reasons.

A sentence written in abbreviations invites exactly this: a higher court unpicking it line by line.

Bhadain says two taxes could cut petrol to Rs 67.30 overnight

Rs 10.40. That is what Reform Party leader Roshi Bhadain says could come straight off a litre of petrol, pulling the pump price from Rs 77.70 back down to Rs 67.30. His proposal leans on cutting taxes rather than waiting for world oil prices to settle.

He would scrap the Re 1.85 Road Development Authority levy, move the Rs 7.20 that drivers now pay toward subsidised gas, rice and flour onto the state budget, and strip out the 15% VAT worth Re 1.35. "When petrol goes up, every other price climbs with it," he says in a video posted this weekend.

The figures are his, not the government's, and a levy is easier to promise away on video than to cut in a budget.

Shops will soon have to show a QR code for every capped price

Checking whether a shopkeeper charges the right price for subsidised rice or flour is about to get simpler. Under a new digital scheme, traders will have to display a standardised QR code that shoppers can scan to read the official maximum for controlled and subsidised goods.

The point is to put the regulated price list in every customer's pocket, rather than trusting the sticker on the shelf. Enforcement, as ever, will be the real test, a QR code only helps if someone acts on the gap.

Spy service wanted: one director, total loyalty, superintendent rank

Who runs the island's intelligence service next? For now, a very short list. The National Security Service, which answers straight to PM Ramgoolam, wants a new director general, and the Disciplined Forces Service Commission will only look at police officers of superintendent rank or above. Proven loyalty and a feel for intelligence work are the ask.

Rui Pedro's Mauritius sweep Sri Lanka aside 3-0

Three goals, no reply. Mauritius beat Sri Lanka 3-0 in a friendly that lifted the national mood more than the scoreline alone suggests, and the local press is already casting coach Rui Pedro as the island's own Jose Mourinho. After a long run of lean results, a clean home win is the kind of night that pulls fans back to the national side.

Shorts

Power goes off across several regions today – The power utility CEB has scheduled outages for Beau-Bassin, Cluny, Forest-Side and more this Sunday.

South Africa eases its visa rule for Mauritians – Mauritian travellers can now stay up to 90 days without a visa, much longer than before.

Questions trail Saumtally's new private college – MP Saumtally insists the rules were followed as his school's permit draws scrutiny.

Senior civil service reshuffle ruffles feathers – A wave of transfers hitting top ministry officials from 6 October has staff grumbling.

Tayc and Shenseea headline a Tribeca show – The two stars and their guests are due at Tribeca for one big night of music.

Rs 607.79 billion

Household consumption across the country is set to reach that mark this year, up more than Rs 118 billion from 2023, even as families feel squeezed.

150,000 people

That many Yemenis have fled their homes as fighting flares again, the UN says, piling onto more than five million already uprooted by years of war.

Rs 25 million

A French woman cleared on appeal over a 2015 Subutex import now wants the Mauritian state to pay up for what she calls a wrongful ordeal, according to court filings.

43 political killings shadow South Africa's local elections

At least 43 people have been killed in suspected political assassinations across South Africa so far this year, a new report says, with local government elections now only month away. Most of the bloodshed is tied to contests for power and patronage inside parties and councils.

Analysts warn the toll could climb as the vote nears, since control of a town hall can mean control of tenders and jobs. It is a grim backdrop for a democracy that still holds Nelson Mandela's name close.

Sudan's fuel runs short and prices bite hardest at the bottom

A worsening fuel shortage has pushed prices up sharply across Sudan, hitting ordinary families hardest, with Middle East supply shocks and import curbs both to blame.

Ebola toll passes 4,000 in DR Congo as a drug trial starts

The country's worst Ebola outbreak has now killed more than 4,000 people, even as doctors begin testing a drug meant to help those just exposed.

Two Iranians charged over a plot against Manchester's Jews

Two Iranian nationals now face charges over an alleged plan to build a homemade bomb and strike the Jewish community in Manchester, prosecutors say. Investigators believe a handler based in Iran directed the plot.

The case has landed amid already frosty ties between London and Tehran, and Jewish community groups across Britain are back on alert. No trial date has been set.

North Korea fires a ballistic missile amid fresh Seoul tensions

Pyongyang fired a ballistic missile toward the sea from Wonsan, South Korea's military said, days after a landmine blast reignited friction along the fortified border.

Manchester City appeal their Premier League guilty verdict

Manchester City are fighting a tribunal's finding that they broke the Premier League's financial rules, hoping to avoid what could be heavy sanctions.

Mauritius did what no country has: it made diabetes retreat

Good news, for once. Mauritius is the first country on record to show a lasting drop in type 2 diabetes and prediabetes, a study in The Lancet finds, tracking the years 2009 to 2021.

The island has measured blood sugar carefully since 1987, using the glucose test the WHO treats as gold standard. The authors, presenting in Milan, say it proves the worldwide rise can be stopped, even reversed.

🙏 Merci, à demain! 👋

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