Jenkins was arrested in February 2018, following a Hawks’ Serious Organised Crime Investigation into various cases of theft of network providers’ tower batteries and equipment.

He was linked to at least 29 cases which occurred in January to February 2018 in the Cape Peninsula.

The accused was implicated in all these cases after it was found that he used duplicate keys to illegally access the sites.

The Cape Town regional court sentenced him to 20 years’ imprisonment for each of the 25 counts of theft, with seven years of each sentence suspended. The remaining 13-year prison terms will be served concurrently.

National Prosecuting Authority spokesperson Eric Ntabazalila said Jenkins mainly targeted MTN towers in Dunoon, Table View, Paarl, Bellville, Parow, Strand, Lwandle, Mowbray, Hermanus, Hawston, Durbanville, Duinefontein, Melkbosstrand, Kraaifontein, Eerste River, Goodwood, Athlone, Delft, Elsies River and Milnerton.

According to the NPA, Jenkins confessed that between 11 January 2018 and 9 February 2019, he stole broadband-over-power-line cards and “BPKd” cards from MTN cellphone towers across Cape Town and some parts of the Boland.

The value of the equipment he stole amounted to R1.7-million. Jenkins also stole “small-form pluggable optical modules” from Cell C sites. These are compact media connectors that provide instant fibre connectivity for networking gear, the NPA explained.

The sentences have been ordered to run concurrently. Jenkins has been in custody since his arrest and the court has additionally declared him unfit to possess a firearm in terms of the provisions of the Firearm Control Act.

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500 years jail terms for theft of cellphone tower batteries