A 32-year-old man was found guilty on seven counts of housebreaking and theft by the Nelspruit District Court after he went on a months-long crime spree including breaking into the offices of the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (Hawks).
DANIEL Wagenaar, 32, has been found guilty on seven counts of housebreaking and theft by the Nelspruit District Court in Mpumalanga after he went on a months-long crime spree including breaking into the offices of the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (DPCI), also known as the Hawks.
The provincial spokesperson for the Hawks in Mpumalanga, Captain Dineo Lucy Sekgotodi, said the court convicted Wagenaar on Friday.
“The conviction followed after the accused broke into the DPCI offices on Van Rensburg Street in Nelspruit on March 6, 2022, at about 7pm. The Local Criminal Record Centre visited the crime scene and lifted fingerprints for linkages,” said Sekgotodi.
“During the investigation, the suspect was positively linked to the crime scene. It was further established that he failed to appear in court on March 9, 2022 for two housebreaking and theft cases which occurred at Nelspruit in July 2019 and December 2021.”
The Hawks’ Serious Organised Crime Investigation team based in Nelspruit approached the court and obtained a warrant for Wagenaar’s arrest and he was traced to his hideout.
“He was arrested on March 9, 2022 and was kept in custody until his conviction,” said Sekgotodi.
“The case against Wagenaar was postponed to October 14 for a pre-sentence report.”
Last month, a 40-year-old wanted suspect, Thomas Ngcobo, who had been on the run for seven years after he allegedly stole hardware products which he had been sent to deliver to clients, was arrested after he went to a police station to enquire about a job application.
At the time, Mpumalanga police spokesperson Brigadier Selvy Mohlala said Ngcobo appeared before the Bethal Magistrate’s Court and he was remanded in custody.
“According to information at the police’s disposal, the suspect was supposed to make a hardware material delivery worth more than R200,00. It is alleged that the said material was redirected to another address without the owner’s consent or knowledge,” said Mohlala.
“The suspect’s dirty tricks were uncovered a week later after the manager decided to check invoices. It was realised that two invoices were missing and other material had been delivered to wrong addresses.”
The matter was reported to police, and a case of theft was registered in September 2015 at Bethal SAPS.
“The suspect was unexpectedly nabbed on Monday, August 15, 2022 after he visited the Bethal SAPS to make enquiries about his application for police recruitment drive,” Mohlala said.
