Ex-Londolozi employee appeal fails for 30-year jail sentence
A former employee of Londolozi Nature Reserve failed to appeal a 30-year jail sentence.
MBOMBELA – Hawks spokesman Capt Dineo Sekgotodi said Wade Morgan Williams (33) was sentenced after his appeal bid failed in the Pretoria High Court on Friday.
Williams was convicted on November 17, 2015 for attempted murder, theft, theft of motor vehicle, arson and malicious damage to property. The highly publicised heist played out from 20:00 on April 4 to 08:00 the next morning. In those 12 hours, Williams kidnapped financial manager Dave Dampier, forced access codes to the reserve’s bank accounts out of him at gunpoint and transferred R10,3 million from Londolozi’s account to his own.
He also drugged Dampier and had even planned to finish him off then feed his body to the reserve’s crocodiles. A battle ensued between the men and in the end Williams threw him out of the vehicle and fled.
READ MORE HERE:Wade Williams: This is why I stole from Londolozi
When his initial plan to fly to Kenya did not work out he decided to flee to Johannesburg while still driving in the reserve’s Discovery 4. He never made it past Mbombela and was arrested by the Hawks after the vehicle’s signal was tracked.
