Bloemfontein - A man has been sentenced to 15 years imprisonment after being convicted of stealing a bus in the Free State and trying to drive it over the border into Lesotho.
Provincial police spokesperson Sergeant Martin Xuma said Patrick Lucky Matiwane, 40, from Beverley Hills in Everton, Gauteng, was sentenced to 15 years for theft of a motor vehicle on Thursday 11 June by the Ladybrand Regional Court.
According to police, Matiwane stole a parked bus inside Mine Depo in Newvall in the Free State on 23 April 2012. He drove the bus up until the Maseru port of entry in the early hours of 24 April 2012.
“Captain Jan Jansen, Constable Itumeleng Sereco and Constable George Jwili stopped the VW Megabus and started searching the R85 000 VW. The police members requested the cross border permit as well as a driver’s licence. The accused could not produce the requested documents and the three members phoned the phone number written on the bus.
“According to the owners they were not aware that their bus was about to cross the border and upon inspecting their fleet they became aware that their bus was stolen.”
Xuma said Jansen advised the owners to open a case of theft of motor vehicle at the nearest police station. The accused was arrested and the VW vehicle handed to the lawful owners.
The case was assigned to Constable Pateng Matlebe of Ladybrand Vehicle Crime Identification whose investigating of the matter led to the successful conviction and sentence of the accused.
Lieutenant General Simon Mpembe, the Free State Police Provincial Commissioner applauded the members involved in recovering the bus and ensuring the succesful conviction.
“Our members will continue squeezing border related crime at our port of entries and it is also vital that our reliable informers continue working together with the police,” Mpembe said.
ANA