Three cable thieves have been sentenced to a collective 22 years behind bars after they were caught red-handed by security guards and cops.
It was the sterling detective work of Sergeant Daryl van Noie which led to the successful conviction of the three skelms who damaged and stole Prasa’s high-powered cables and signal equipment thereby destroying essential services of the transport system.
Bongani Nontsele, 30, was sentenced to 10 years behind bars of which five years were suspended. He will spend five years in prison.
Nontsele was arrested on 22 May 2018 in the vicinity of Nyanga Junction after he was caught with cables he had dug up and cut from the railway signal equipment.
Tevin Kleinsmith, 21, and Milton October, 32, were sentenced to 12 years each, six years of which were suspended.
The duo were arrested on 24 October 2018 at 9am in the vicinity of Nyanga Junction after they were caught by Prasa security personnel tasked with protecting vital systems and signal equipment that allows the smooth operation of the railway transport system.
They will be serving six years behind bars.
Colonel Sanele Zama, the acting Station Commander at Manenberg Police Station, says the culprits’ acts disrupted train services.
“When any part of the system is disrupted, hundreds of thousands of commuters are left stranded and they often have to find alternate means of transport thus making them vulnerable to other criminal elements such as robberies and theft.
“This type of disruption to people’s livelihood will not be tolerated.”