A truck driver for a leading supermarket chain was on 3 May, granted R30 000 bail by the Alex Magistrates’ Court pending a further hearing on 17 May for theft and perjury.
The crime involved his crew member and a former workmate, both of whom are at large, and a manager of the chain’s Tembisa branch who pleaded guilty and has been sentenced to a R10 000 fine or five years imprisonment by the Tembisa Magistrates’ Court for receiving stolen goods worth R800 000.
The offence occurred on 31 March this year when the accused’s truck, supposed to deliver a load of foodstuff at the chain’s Hyde Park outlet, was instead deviated and he delivered the goods at the Tembisa outlet.
In court, the accused claimed to have been hijacked at gunpoint as he was about to deliver at Hyde Park and forced to drive to Tembisa. It is alleged that the theft had been arranged by the former workmate who had been fired two weeks earlier and is now on the run.
He further claimed that the crew member with him was bundled into another vehicle which followed the truck until the Allendale off ramp. There, he claimed the hijacker forced him out of the truck and into the vehicle, which no longer had his crew member. He alleged the hijacker drove off while he was driven in a different direction.
The accused allegedly backtracked on the hijack claim to police investigating the case, and admitted that the Tembisa outlet as the point of delivery. His admission was said to have been verified by CCTV footage which showed the delivery in process on the same day (31 March) at the Tembisa outlet leading to the manager’s admission and subsequent arrest. The goods were recovered.
