These were some of the local stories making headlines in years gone by.
• Clampdown on cable thieves
More than 18 cases of theft of electrical copper cables, worth about R1-million, have been reported to the Brakpan police since May.
Most affected are the Withok and Van Eck Park areas.
Residents of these areas have had to suffer the inconvenience of being without electricity for days because of the cable thefts.
Business owners are also angered by the repeated interruptions in power because they lose money and man-hours each time it happens.
But, if the public cooperate with the police, the days of the cable thieves could be a thing of the past in these areas.
The police are going to increase visits to scrapyards as this is where the copper cable is being sold.
Some dealers are buying it, therefore creating a lucrative ongoing market.
Underground and overhead cables are being stolen, mainly in the plot and industrial areas of Brakpan.
Although cables are often stolen at night, the telltale dark smoke during the day could result in the culprits being arrested.
“We are sick of the thefts and the power cuts which result,” said one businessman.
“But we feel that until people stop buying it, the thefts will go on.”
• Skurk skiet winkelier
’n Winkeleienaar van Dalpark is Sondagaand by sy besigheid doodgeskiet nadat dieselfde plek vroeër die oggend beroof is.
Lede van die Oos Randse Moord- en Roofeenheid ondersoek die moontlikheid dat die twee voorvalle met mekaar verbind kan word.
Nog ’n leidraad wat opgevolg word is die feit dat die slagoffer Maandagoggend in die hof sou moes getuig oor ’n gewapende roof wat in Desember by dieselde besigheid plaasgevind het.
Mnr Demos Hatzidimos (37) wat in Dalpark woonagtig was, is Sondagaand ongeveer 6nm in sy Supa Rite Supermark in Dalpark Uitbreiding 11 deur ’n onbekende persoon geskiet.
Hy het later in ’n hospitaal beswyk.
Vroeër dieselfde dag het minstens sewe gewapende rowers die winkel binnegegaan en personeel, sowel as klante, aangehou en onder meer juwele en selfone geroof.
Hulle het in ’n wit Cressida en ’n silwer Toyota Corolla weggejaag.
Volgens die polisie sou Hatzidimos Maandagoggend in die hof oor die roof in Desember getuig het, maar die saak is as gevolg van sy dood uitgestel.
Read: News of yesteryear
• Man robbed of wallets
A 60-year-old man was robbed of two wallets from his pockets as he bent down to examine fruit and vegetables being sold by hawkers on the corner of Kingsway Avenue and High Street last Saturday.
Vic Smit, a former Brakpan resident, who now lives in Benoni, was on his way to the cemetery to tidy his wife’s grave.
He left his daughter in the car while he went over to buy vegetables.
“The minute I bent down, a man grabbed my wallets and threw them on the ground,” he said.
“Then I heard my daughter shouting, but was too late to realise that a second man grabbed the wallets and the two ran about five metres, then started walking.
“They even turned round and laughed at me.”
Smit came close to being robbed a second time in Brakpan on Monday.
He was getting out of his car in Prince George Avenue and two men approached him.
“They looked suspicious and I shouted at them,” he said.
“They went away.”
• Gekaapte hond terug
Die Duitse herdershond wat verlede week op die agtersitplek van ’n gekaapte motorvoertuig was en ’n onbekende lot in die gesig gestaar het, is veilig terug by sy eienaars.
Cariena en Chirsto van Staden van Springsweg is oorstelp van vreugde.
Hulle het die dier Vrydag by die Springs Dierebeskermingsvereniging gaan haal nadat die vereniging dit in die omgewing van New State Areas opgelaai het,
“Kleon was baie bly om ons te sien en ek moet sê die gevoel was beslis wedersyds,” het Van Staden gesê.
“Die kapers moes hom aan sy poot uit die motor gesleep het aangesien hy ’n seer poot het.
“Daarbenewens gaan dit goed met Kleon.”
Van hul gekaapte motor is daar egter nog geen teken nie.
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Contact the newsroom by emailing: Thelma Koorts (editor) brakpanherald@caxton.co.za
or Stacy Slatter (news editor) stacys@caxton.co.za
or Miné Fourie (journalist) minev@caxton.co.za
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