Fairland Police are jubilant after a suspect that they had hunted down was handed a 40-year sentence at the Newlands Magistrates’ Court on 14 January on two counts of housebreaking and robbery and two counts of theft.
Communications officer from the Fairland Police Station Constable Moloko Kgatla said that a case of robbery was opened after a robbery occurred in June last year when a suspect entered a house in Acacia Road in Northcliff.
“Three suspects entered the home at around 11 am and threatened to kill the victim with a knife, then began searching the house and stole a firearm, laptops, music systems, jewellery and cellphones valued at over a R100 000 and fled the scene in an unknown vehicle,” Const Kgatla said.
He pointed out that fingerprints lifted at the crime scene pointed out their suspect as Mzamo Michael who was from Colenzo in KwaZulu-Natal.
Const Kgatla explained that they dispatched an informer who relocated from Johannesburg to Colenzo in KZN in order to track the suspect down.
“During this time we used cellphones to communicate with the informant in order for him to give us feedback and at times the informant had to travel from Colenzo to Pietermaritzburg, Durban and Johannesburg in order to give feedback,” Const Kgatla added. He also said that the informant used his own resources to travel and make phone calls until the suspect was located.
“Once the suspect was located we launched the operation and with the help of the informant we were able to arrest the suspect and place him on the court roll,” Const Kgatla further explained.
Const Kgatla added that upon further investigations they discovered that the suspect had several open cases against him at various police stations across Johannesburg as well as KZN and explained that they were centralised to Newlands.
“To further motivate the informant to continue with his good work, we have recommended to the Gauteng Provincial Police that he should receive an amount of R40 000. At the moment the informant is giving positive information on suspects that are committing house robberies around Gauteng province and with his help we expect to make more the arrests soon,” Const Kgatla noted.
Details: Fairland Police Station, 011 478 9413
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