Remote jamming thief gets a beating
A local woman recently found an unknown person in the back of her double cab bakkie looking through her things
POLOKWANE – This is a lesson that a local woman and residents in the area taught a thief who broke into a vehicle on Monday, 24 October. Leanne Human, employee of a business in Hans van Rensburg Street, said that she had just arrived at her workplace shortly after 10:00 and was summonsed by a security guard looking after their companies’ vehicles. “At first I was a bit angry with the guard for bothering me but he then told me that there was someone in my car so I rushed out to see what was happening,” Human said.
She found an unknown person in the back of her double cab bakkie looking through her things. “I shouted at him, demanding to know what he was doing, and he ran away.” She ran after him and shouted to people in the street to stop him and several people ran after him.
“A person was standing next to his bicycle and lifted it up, hitting the man and forcing him to the ground where other people started beating the man,” Human said.
She ran down the street and saw police officials and asked them to help as the man was being held down by spectators. “The police acted fast and arrested the man but urged me to come to the police station to open a case as he was a person of interest for the police in other crimes.”
She said while residents were chasing the man, a small remote control fell out of his pocket and she was told to pick it up and take it with her to the police station as it was a remote-jamming device.
She inspected her bakkie and could not find anything stolen or any way to get into the bakkie and she believes that the man used the remote to jam her vehicle’s signal and gain entry.
Provincial Spokesperson Col Ronel Otto, confirmed that a case of theft from a motor vehicle was being investigated and that the man would appear in the Polokwane Magistrate Court shortly. Police investigations are still ongoing to see if he can be linked to other crimes.
“I see and know from personal experience that the residents of the city are tired of people stealing from them and that they are tired of people making Polokwane a criminal city.
“This is a place for families, not for criminals to thrive,” she said. She urged residents to make sure that their doors are locked when stopping in the street or at shopping centres.
“I saw my bakkie lights go on and off and thought that it was locked, make sure and check your car doors, you may not be as lucky as I was,” said Human.
