Vigilant shop owner recovers stolen bicycle

A man appeared before court this week for the possession of a stolen bicycle. The arrest was made thanks to a vigilant shop owner who alerted the bicycle owner and the police when he recognised the bicycle brought to his shop as the one on a photo sent to him by the rightful owner.

Mr Hansa, owner of Golden City Pro Cycle in Philip Street, told Gazette that he received a message from the owner earlier asking him to be on the look out for the stolen bicycle in case someone tries to sell it.

On Saturday the man indeed came to his shop where Mr Hansa immediately recognised the bicycle as the one on the photo sent to him earlier. He confronted the man, telling him that the bicycle was stolen. The man however refused to let go and eventually punched Mr Hansa in the face. “Fortunately there was an elderly client in the shop who got the suspect to leave the shop after the assault,” Mr Hansa said.

His shop neighbours, especially the owner of Springbok Café, meanwhile phoned Pays Security and the police, who caught the suspect. “Many people ask me to look out for their stolen bicycles. This is not the first one I recovered, but the first time that it turned out to be a serious incident,” Mr Hansa said.