Staff Reporter
The Kroonstad Regional Court has sentenced three thieves on eight counts of stealing copper cable.
Eskom said in a statement the trio was sentenced to a total of 244 years in prison for crimes committed between March and June 2017.
The accused were involved in eight incidents where copper cable to the value of R115 500 was stolen from the power company.
They were arrested on June 4, 2017 by a private security company contracted by Eskom.
They were charged for the theft of overhead copper conductors in the Kroonstad, Koppies and Allanridge areas.
At the time of their arrest, the accused were found in possession of copper cable belonging to the power utility.
Prior to their arrest, the accused were suspects in similar offences where they had stolen overhead copper conductors.
These cases had however been closed by the police after being classified as undetected.
But upon analysis of the cellphone records of the accused, it was discovered that they were linked to various incidents of copper theft which had occurred in the Kroonstad, Allanridge, Geneva and Heuningspruit areas.
The accused operated as a syndicate and were further linked to various crime scenes by records of the cellphones found in their possession at the time of arrest.
The sentences will run concurrently and two of them will effectively serve 16 years’ imprisonment while the other one will do time for 12 years.