The Kimberley Regional Court gave a 15-year sentence to a man found guilty of tampering with, and damaging electricity cables in the city.

Linden Cornelius was convicted on Tuesday (28/5) of tampering with essential infrastructure. It was determined during his trial that the cable found in his possession was the property of the Sol Plaatje Municipality.

The municipality welcomed the sentencing as it provides hope for curbing the growing problem of critical infrastructure theft and vandalism. “The vandalism of municipal infrastructure is a huge blow to the municipality,” said Sol Plaatje municipality spokesperson Thabo Mothibi. “A major obstacle to providing services is the theft of municipal infrastructure.”

‘Money is invested in the maintenance of infrastructure‘

“We are grateful to law enforcement agencies and communities for taking tough measures against these crimes.”

“Huge amounts of money is invested in the maintenance, and replacement of infrastructure, it slows the progress and development of service delivery,” said Mothibi.

Cornelius was seen by a witness cutting off electric cables around 04:00, and took a video of him cutting off the electric cables with a hack saw.

‘He only picked up the saw‘

“The accused was arrested by police at the scene, with the cables and during the trial, in his defence, the accused denied tampering, damaging, or destroying the essential structure. The accused said he only picked up the saw,” said NPA spokesperson Mojalefa Senokoatsane.

“During the trial, the prosecution called an electrician working for Sol Plaatje Municipality who confirmed the cable found in possession of the accused was the property of the municipality.”

“The prosecution requested the accused be sentenced to 15 years direct imprisonment and be declared unfit to possess a firearm. The court ruled there was overwhelming evidence against the accused. There was direct evidence linking the accused to the alleged offence and found him guilty,” said Senokoatsane.

‘Water outage in the entire town

DFA reports Mothibi said this week, they had to deal with vandalism at the Green Point pump station and at the Ritchie abstraction pump which resulted in a water outage in the entire town. Water tankers had to be deployed for emergency water supply.

OFM News/Zenande Mpame dg