A suspect was arrested when the owners did their own investigation, but on Monday they found out that he was already back on the street.

Video footage of the break-in helped Felica An Nkosi from the African Food Shop to identify the culprit who was arrested shortly after the incident.

On the video a man can be seen breaking the shop’s window with a rock before disappearing around the corner. He later comes back and reaches into the shop through the broken window. He could not manage to grab anything of value.

Ms Nkosi says that she recognized the suspect on the video because he came around the shop frequently.
“I have given him water. And at night, before the business closes, him and his friends sometimes come around for the left over food.”

She says that she sent some men to look for him in Mhluzi. They managed to track him down. The suspect vehemently denied his involvement in the crime.

He was brought to the shop so he could see himself on video. Thereafter the police were contacted via a number Ms Nkosi got from the Middelburg Observer website, www.mobserver.co.za.

She said that a policeman came to take fingerprints and promised that one of his colleagues would be back to get the video material. No one ever came.

A couple of days later, Ms Nkosi noticed the same man suspected of breaking into her shop, back on the street.

•Capt. Khanyisile Zwane, Middelburg police spokesperson, said that the case was never put on the court-roll and the suspect was released.

She could not comment on why the state decided not to prosecute and said that she could only give feedback once the docket was received back from court.

• Last week Monday, two women dumped a black bag full of rotten food in front of the shop entrance. The culprits were never identified.

Read previous story here:

Video: Foreign shopfront trashed

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