Quest for a quick buck gets thief caught

ENGLISH poet, William Blake, once said, “Want of money and the distress of a thief can never be alleged as the cause of his thieving, for many honest people endure greater hardships with fortitude…”

On February 6, one such thief, in his quest for a quick buck at the expense of the latter, had no excuse when he was caught out.

Local ‘Water Boy,’ Dylan Scannell, who has been delivering water in town since the onset of the water crisis that would have surely crippled the town, were it not for the efforts of the community itself to stand together and assist each other, had made a quick stop at the Post Office on the Monday in question.

Scannell states that he had been gone approximately ten minutes and didn’t initially notice, upon his return to the vehicle, that the petrol pump used to pump water from the water tank on the back of the bakkie was missing, until he had left the area.

When he realised it had been stolen, a few minutes later, he returned to the Post Office and questioned the car guard who had been operating in the area.

Vryheid Neighbourhood Watch members immediately reacted, along with the SAPS and the car guard, tracking down the opportunistic scoundrel in less than two hours, before he was able to solicit his stolen merchandise.

The petrol pump was positively identified as the one which was stolen from Mr Scannell’s vehicle, but is being held as evidence by the SAPS.

According to Mr Scannell, who had to buy a new petrol pump in order to continue with water deliveries to the community, he was not the only one who pressed charges against the marauding crook. Even the car-guard who operates in the area where the brazen daylight theft took place, has had enough of the criminals and opened a case against the thief as well.

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