Man sentenced to 2 years for business robbery
ALEXANDRA - A Cosmo city man was sentenced to 24 months in jail by the Alexandra Magistrate Court for a case of business robbery committed at his former workplace in Wynberg.
A Cosmo City man was sentenced to 24 months in jail by the Alexandra Magistrates’ Court for a case of business robbery committed at his former workplace in Wynberg.
The thief, Refiloe Mobatsehla who pleaded guilty, admitted to having committed the offence at about 9.30pm on 22 August at the company which deals in flooring material. His co-worker on night shift is said to have heard sounds and movement in the building that night and called the company owner’s son, who rushed to the place.
The security guard informed the son that he had seen two men hiding behind his own car parked outside the company he was guarding. When he confronted the men, they ran away and he chased them.
As he was doing so, he saw a BMW driving out of the flooring company’s yard at high speed. The guard said the car passed him and picked up the two men he was chasing. He took down the number plate. He told the son that the car in question resembled one he always saw parked in the flooring company’s yard. The son went into premises and found the burglar door, which had been secured when they closed that night, open and the padlock missing. Three boxes of tiles were outside on the ground.
The son is said to have reported Mobatsehla to Bramley police as the suspect. The following day, Mobatsehla didn’t go to work and the police went to his Cosmo City home but didn’t find him. The next day, they returned to his home and Mobatsehla is said to have admitted to the offence and took police to a place on 7th Avenue in Wynberg where he showed them 16 boxes full of wooden flooring and laminating material. He is said to have claimed they were for a customer in Soweto. The company owner was called and identified the material as his company’s products leading to Mobatsehla’s conviction and sentencing. His two accomplices are still at large.
