Man pays dearly for cop radio
2004-06-24 22:25
Cape Town - A tow truck driver who arrived at a collision scene within minutes of the accident being reported to the police was on Thursday sentenced to a R60 000 fine or three years in jail for the illegal possession of a stolen police radio originally worth R43 000.
Arno Botha, 24, a truck driver for Lansdowne Towing Services appeared in the Cape Town magistrate's court before magistrate Joe Magele and assessor Bernie Shapiro, who suspended the entire sentence for five years - despite prosecutor Velekhaya Mgobhozi's fear that a suspended sentence would send out the wrong message to tow truck drivers with similar ideas.
Magele and Shapiro ruled instead that a suspended sentence would serve as a severe deterrent.
They warned Botha to "stay away from stolen police radios in future".
Botha was also warned he would have to pay the R60 000 fine, and also face a far heavier sentence as a second offender, if again caught with a stolen police radio within the next five years.
Inspector Gordon Langford of the police emergency services told the court the radio in question had been allocated to the Elsies River police, and had been tampered with to prevent it being tracked down.
He said the radio was now only worth about R27 000.
Botha's arrival at the collision scene so soon after it had been reported had made Langford suspicious.
Botha had looked around briefly, then sped away, to be chased by Langford.
When eventually stopped, Botha had first denied he had any police equipment, then produced the stolen radio from under the seat.
He told Langford his employer had given it to him the previous day, but he was unaware the radio was stolen police equipment.
In court, however, Botha said the vehicle he had been driving, as well as the radio, had been allocated to a colleague.
He said tow truck drivers used radio handsets to keep in touch with headquarters, if the drivers needed to leave their vehicles for any reason.
Defence attorney Peter Herrmann reminded the court that the wrong people often obtained stolen police equipment from corrupt police, but Magele said he would only take that into account if and when he had a corrupt police official in the dock for sentence.
- SAPA