Cable thief jailed for 14 years
It appears that the man was working with his friends to steal copper cable.
The Boksburg Magistrate’s Court sentenced Tumelo Mohlotsane (24) of Comet Village to 14 years in jail on September 3 on charges related to cable theft.
The 24-year-old was sentenced to 12 years for tampering, damaging or destroying essential infrastructure or colluding and assisting another person to do so (count one) and two years for assault GBH (count three).
He was found not guilty of malicious injury to property (alternative charge to count one) and theft (count two), and declared unfit to possess a firearm.
He pleaded not guilty to all charges on May 30. The sentences will not run consecutively.
On March 11, 2021, Mohlotsane was caught digging up copper cables belonging to the City of Ekurhuleni in Commissioner Street.
Dumisani Tshabalala and a colleague, Mtsheleni Bongani Thusi, from Combined Private Investigations, were patrolling along Commissioner Street at about 00:30, next to the police station, when they saw a man standing at a hole that had been dug next to the road.
They stopped to investigate and found men were stealing cables. Some of the suspects ran away but Mohlotsane was caught.
He was in possession of a pick, spade, hacksaw and about 10m of copper cable and told the security officers his accomplices had made off with cables.
At some point, Mohlotsane bit officer Thusi’s finger, hence the assault GBH charge.
Sergeant Takalani Mungoma was on duty at Boksburg Police Station when a security officer from Combined Private Investigations came in with the man (Mohlotsane), who was wet and covered in mud. He was then arrested.
City of Ekurhuleni chief area engineer in the Electricity Department William Olivier testified that he visited the scene, which he described as a hotspot for cable theft.
The cable that was damaged and stolen was 10 metres of 120mm 4-core copper cable that supplies electricity to Boksburg Police Station and the upper part of Boksburg’s residential and business areas. The replacement and repair of this cable is R15 000, he said. Prosecutor Mooiman represented the State and Magistrate Shilubana presided.
Also Read: Renewed promises to fix crumbling state buildings in Boksburg
Also Read: Emotional scenes in court as Boksburg fraudster is sentenced to 50 years
