Court lax about serious offence
Not much of a deterrent sentence by the court for other scrap yard owner miscreants
MR J SOUSA of Bonaero Park writes:
Regarding the report in Kempton Express of October 24, (“CCTV couple nabbed”), two disturbing things caught my attention.
The article reported on the arrest of a couple who had an admitted history of the theft of items such as manhole covers for sale to corrupt scrap yards.
I find it appalling how lax the police and the court seemed to be in what should be regarded as an extremely serious criminal offence. It costs our country billions of Rands every year for the theft of electrical cabling and metal items and presents great danger due to the possibility of people falling into uncovered manholes.
It is also possible that the recent disastrous water crisis was caused by the theft of electricity cabling. Many people consider such rampant crimes to be so serious that they should be classified as treason, so great is the damage to the South African economy.
However, the couple was “released on their own recognizance”. Not even being made to pay bail money usually indicates that the presiding court officer does not consider the crime allegedly committed to be very serious.
Secondly, the scrap yard concerned, where a sizable amount of possible similar contraband was discovered, was merely immediately closed down for contravening the second hand goods act, and received a slap-on-the-wrist fine imposed.
Not much of a deterrent sentence by the court for other scrap yard owner miscreants. Why was the dealer not charged for receiving stolen property, a far more serious offence?
When will the police, metro police and the criminal courts at last take this scourge much more seriously? I hope Express follows and reports on the trial of the scrap metal thieving couple so that we can ultimately see if the magistrate imposes a suitably harsh deterrent sentence.
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