KOMATIPOORT – The sentence for Somayila Gebhuza (28) and Nelson Fabiao (25) was wholly suspended for five years on the condition that the accused must not be found guilty of the same offence.
They were arrested by WO Jacobus Claassen on March 22, who came across the suspicious persons during his normal duties at the Lebombo Border Post.
He saw the men holding a newish tablet cellphone and approached them. They told him they were selling the phone and he told them he was interested in buying it but needed an interpreter for the transaction.
They accompanied him to his office and while browsing the tablet, Claasen saw photos of a white male saved on it. The men alleged that they took it from the man who owed them money.
Claasen was still suspicious and found a Canadian phone number on the phone. He sent an SMS to the number and a Canadian national contacted him and said that the phone belonged to his father that recently visited South Africa.
Claasen saw a picture taken at the Kruger National Airport and upon investigation found that the cellphone’s owner had cancelled a flight back to Canada due to a theft of his cellphone and passport.
The two Mozambicans indicated that they hid the passport at Malelane taxi rank and Claasen arrested them for possession of suspected stolen property and being illegal immigrants.
