A man who ripped off equipment from mobile phone base stations in the Western Cape has been handed a 500-year prison sentence, though he will spend no more than 13 years behind bars in practice.
The National Prosecuting Authority said in a statement on Friday that David Jenkins was sentenced by a regional court in Cape Town to 20 years’ imprisonment for each of the 25 counts he was facing, which amounted to a total of over 500 years.
The court suspended seven years of each of the 20 years, which resulted in the an effective 13 years’ imprisonment for each count. The court ordered that the sentences run concurrently, however, meaning he will serve a maximum of 13 years in jail.
According to the NPA, the 30-year-old Jenkins confessed that between 11 January 2018 and 9 February 2019, he stole broadband-over-power-line cards and “BPKd” cards from MTN cellphone towers across Cape Town and some parts of the Boland.
The value of the equipment he stole amounted to R1.7-million.
He also stole “small-form pluggable optical modules” from Cell C sites. These are compact media connectors that provide instant fibre connectivity for networking gear, the NPA explained.
“There is a sharp increase in these types of offences in the jurisdiction of this court,” said prosecutor Ronelle Stone. “The consequences of these offences are of a very serious nature and the punishment imposed should serve to protect society.” — (c) 2020 NewsCentral Media
