Zimbabwean national sentenced to 6 year for stealing railway tracks

The Pretoria Regional Court, sentenced a Zimbabwean national, Petros Vingiran (26), of 6 years direct imprisonment for theft of essential infrastructure.

This is after Vingiran pleaded guilty, and was convicted of theft of essential infrastructure and being illegal in the country. On 27 October 2021, at Koedoespoort Campus on a functional railway, Vingiran was found by security stealing locomotive bearings, valued at R132000, that belonged to Transnet. The security alerted the police and he was arrested on then scene.

Prosecutor Dru Ramsamy, asked the court to impose a prescribed minimum sentence, because of the effects this type of offence has in the community, as money that is supposed to be spent on developing communities, is now spent on replacing the damaged items and tightening security.

Furthermore, she said Vingiran had no regards for the laws of the country over and above being an illegal immigrant.

The National Prosecuting Authority welcomes the sentence.