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Former Police Station Commander sentenced for stock theft
The Tweeling Magistrates’ Court has sentenced Mokete Jacob Mokoena, the former Acting Station Commander of Tweeling Police Station, to three years in prison for his role in a stock theft. His co-accused, Lefa Elias Mahlaba, was sentenced to two years.
The court was told that on the night of March 21 to 22, 2021, Mokoena, who was also the Visible Policing (VISPOL) Commander at the station, was on duty, patrolling in a marked police vehicle while wearing full SAPS uniform. He asked Mahlaba, an ordinary citizen, to accompany him on the patrol.
Under the cover of darkness, Mahlaba was dropped off at the Speekhoutboom farm, owned by Danie Muller, the complainant. Mahlaba rounded up five sheep, using Mokoena’s official SAPS torch, which had a police insignia and serial number engraved on it, to commit the theft.
Mokoena later returned to the scene, but a private security company spotted the two men. They fled in the police vehicle but were intercepted by the security officers. Upon returning to the crime scene, the security team found Mokoena’s police torch near the carcass of a slaughtered sheep. Another sheep had been killed and placed in a plastic bag, while three others were found alive but bound with rope.
Mokoena initially denied ownership of the torch but later admitted it was his. DNA analysis confirmed that bloodstains on Mahlaba’s clothing matched the slaughtered sheep.
Satellite tracking data from the police vehicle also showed it had stopped near the crime scene multiple times that night.
The trial was delayed several times as Mokoena changed legal representatives three times, but the prosecution, led by Advocate Jacques Harrington, successfully proved the case against both men.
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