Patrick Jones now in Hendrina police cell

For 10 years, he has been living a life of luxury and wealth.

But this lifestyle came to an abrupt end last week when Patrick Patrese Jones (55) was arrested by the Hawks for, among others, fraud, theft and money laundering. Now he is sitting in a jail cell in Hendrina waiting to hear if he will be granted bail.

In February, after an investigation of theft from Eskom of about R14.9m, the Hawks were ready to take Jones and five other suspects down. They managed to arrest Godfrey Jason Jones (46) (his brother), Rabela Sarah Jones (71) (his mother), his former girlfriend, Maria Centeio (53), and Thandeka Nkosi, a former senior buyer at the power utility.

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All the suspects were granted bail of R100 000. Due to bad health, Sarah Jones was granted R30 000 instead. Patrick Jones, however, manage to slip through the net and has been on the run for the past eight months.

During this period, he was commuting between his two favourite hiding places, a house in Mbombela and a luxury mansion in Gordon’s Bay.
In the meantime, the assets forfeiture unit in Mpumalanga managed to seize a number of properties and vehicles, and froze the bank accounts of Jones and his co-accused.

While in Mbombela recently, Jones did not make to much of an effort to stay hidden. He was seen on numerous occasions driving around in a blue Mustang. Last Friday, the Western Cape Hawks managed to arrest Jones in his hiding place in Gordon’s Bay.

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He appeared in the Hendrina Magistrate’s Court this week. While the case against his co-accused was postponed until December 4 in the Middelburg Specialised Commercial Crimes Court, Jones submitted a bail application.

The case against him was postponed till September 18 for the verdict on his bail application. He is still in custody and held in a cell at the police station in Hendrina.