Drug addict convicted
23-year-old drug addict crosses the line and is finally sentenced.
A 23-YEAR-OLD Bellair resident has been sentenced to five years imprisonment for house breaking.
Brendon De Bruyn, was found guilty of house breaking in the Durban Magistrates’ court. The house in question was that of his father, Phillip De Bruyn.
Phillip had gone to East London on a business trip when the incident occurred. “I had locked the house securely before I left and as my son lives in the basement, there was no need for him to be in the main house. On Monday morning however, I received a call from my brother who told me that my bedroom window was open.”
After his brother inspected the house, he realised that the house had been burgled and that the intruder had gained access by cutting the burglar bars on the bedroom window.
No doubt crossed Phillip’s mind that it was his son’s doing as he had stolen from him before and on all those occasions, Phillip had reported the matter to the Bellair SAPS. This wasn’t Brendon’s first stint in court but this time he had stolen items to the value of R3 million.
Brendon disappeared but word soon got out to the neighbours that Phillip was offering a reward for whoever caught and handed over his son to the police and that led to Brendon’s arrest.
“I’ve tried to help him countless times, he’s my son and I love him but he has to learn his lesson. He can’t live a life like this. He steals from me and neighbours and sells our very valuable things for close to nothing just so he can get his next fix.”
Brendon De Bryun is addicted to sugars and has been since he was 16. According to Phillip de Bruyn a straw costs R30 and, he said, all Brendon ever thought of was where he was going to get his next R30. “I gave him the best of everything, he even went to a good school but dropped out when he was in Grade 9,” said an emotional Phillip.
Police established that Phillip’s safe had been pried off the wall. The safe contained three men’s wristwatches, 12 electricity coupons, a double barrel gold ring, 2500 US $, R1000 in cash, Phillip’s passport and 30 gold Nelson Mandela coins.
“After we questioned the suspect he admitted to the crime and told us where he had sold the contents of the safe, so we went there and we held an extremely successful raid in the Coedmore Road squatter camp where we recovered some of the items,” said Bellair SAPS spokesman, Dereck Vijiam.
