A Pretoria man, who was arrested on June 25 in connection with the theft of a vehicle belonging to a rental company at the airport, briefly appeared in Kempton Park Magistrate’s Court on Monday where his case was postponed to July 3.
Perfect Harold Ngonyama (36) allegedly hired a vehicle from a company based at OR Tambo International Airport. However, instead of returning the vehicle when it was due, he told the car rental company he had been hijacked in Tembisa.
Also read:
• Hijacked truck recovered at the airport within an hour
Subsequent to this, he opened a false hijacking case at Tembisa SAPS, after which his cellphone suddenly “stopped working”.
He failed to turn up for a meeting with a representative of the rental company and the company reported him to the police at the airport.
Ngonyama is facing 12 charges, which include theft of a motor vehicle and perjury (after opening a false hijacking case).
He was also charged with 10 counts of fraud after his home was searched and he was found in possession of credit cards under different names and false identity documents and driver’s licences – all with different names, but bearing his photos.
Immediately after he was reported, a South African Police Service task team based at the airport embarked on a man-hunt for the vehicle and the suspect.
He was eventually caught out at a mall in Gezina, Pretoria, where the said vehicle was found parked.
Ngonyama has been remanded in custody pending his bail application on July 3.
