Clamped driver off the hook

2010-09-08 21:23

Johannesburg - A Paarl man who removed a wheel clamp placed on his car when he parked in a bay meant for buses at the V&A Waterfront was found not guilty of theft by the Cape Town Magistrate's Court on Wednesday.

While the prosecutor insisted that Alwyn Gerhardus Smith, 39, committed theft when he removed the clamp and placed it in his car, Smith argued that he did not steal it as he handed it in at the Table Bay police station.

Magistrate Grant Engel ruled that Smith should be given the benefit of the doubt.

Engel said Smith demanded that the clamp be removed when it was placed on his car by a security guard at the Kingdom shop at the Waterfront.

Smith had believed that, because his car was private property, the guard had no authority to clamp the wheel.

However, the guard was only willing to oblige if Smith paid the release fee.

Engel said an irate Smith threatened to remove the clamp himself if the guard did not do so within five minutes - which he then did.

Smith claimed he immediately took the clamp to the police station.

At the time, though, its interior was being painted and the premises were in chaos.

Engel said it was possible that Smith was not given a receipt for the clamp, as he had claimed, and that did not know who he gave it to because of the chaos at the police station.

The incident at the police station should have been entered in a register, but was not, Engel said.

He said the prosecuting authorities had mistakenly charged Smith with theft instead of malicious damage to property or defeating the ends of justice.

- SAPA