Patrick Patrese Jones’s Mustang confiscated
MBOMBELA - The alleged mastermind behind a scheme to swindle R14.9m from Eskom, Patrick Patrese Jones (55), has lost his sports car.
His Ford Mustang was confiscated last week. The brand-new blue Mustang, which he bought from a motor dealer three months ago, was seized by the curator of the Mpumalanga branch of the Asset Forfeiture Unit (AFU) based in Mbombela.
It is the same vehicle Jones used over the past few months to escape the long arm of the law. He commuted between his hiding place in the city and his luxury hideout in Gordon’s bay. The vehicle was tracked down to the Steiltes filling station where he parked the car. The powerful beast costs around R2m.
How he managed to buy the vehicle by financing it through a bank is still unclear. He bought the vehicle on August 8 from a dealer in White River.
He drove the vehicle with a temporary permit until the Hawks in Cape Town arrested him.
He was refused bail by the Specialised Commercial Crime Court in Hendrina.
He and his co-accused will appear in court on December 4 in Middelburg.
The other suspects accused of stealing R14.9m from Eskom are Godfrey Jason Jones (46, his brother), Rabela Sarah Jones (71, his mother), his former girl friend, Maria Ceinteo (53), and Thandeka Nkosi, a former senior buyer at the power utility.
During their appearance in February in court in Hendrina, all the accused, except for Sahara, were granted bail of R100 000. Due to ill health Sarah was granted R30 000 bail.
Thus far the AFU confiscated around R19m by, among others, freezing the accused’s bank accounts, all property in their names, as well as other assets.
TONGA - Six of the seven accused in the cash-in-transit (CIT) heist near Malalane were granted bail of R5 000 each in the Tonga Magistrate’s Court on Tuesday.
They are Bhekifa Ngwenyama
(30), Lawrence Lubisi (44) and Musa Vilakazi (38), as well as three police officers attached to the White River Flying Squad, Sunday Mashego (39), Collen Nonyane (44) and Bhekinkosi Goddi (39).
The Tanzanian national and seventh co-accused, Ali Ebrahim (24), abandoned bail.
According to a joint media statement by the National Prosecuting Authority in Mpumalanga and the Mpumalanga Hawks, the court found that there are exceptional circumstances that permitted the accused to be released on bail.
The hearing stretched to 14 days as the Mpumalanga Hawks had opposed the bail application as previously reported.
The six accused were granted bail on condition that they must attend the court case until the matter is finalised and must not interfere with state witnesses.
“The court further ordered the accused to report to their nearest police stations every Friday between 06:00 and 18:00,” said the statement.
The seven are charged with five counts of attempted murder, three counts of stolen property, possession of firearms, possession of ammunition, malicious damage to property, possession of explosives, and conspiracy to commit crime.
They were arrested in connection with the CIT heist that took place on the R570 towards Schoemansdal, outside Malalane, on August 11.
“A group of men ambushed a Fidelity armoured vehicle with a Mercedes-Benz C Class. The suspects rammed the cash van, which overturned. It is alleged that the security guards were forced out of the vehicle and high-calibre rifles were used on the scene, at which one security officer was disarmed. The cash van was then bombed.”
The matter has been postponed for further investigation and the accused will appear in the Malalane Periodical Court on December 6.
The provincial head of the Hawks, Major General Nicholas Gerber, said the investigation is ongoing and the team is pursuing two other wanted suspects, Zola Martin Mnisi (29) and Mpendulo Absima Hassane (31). They were allegedly linked through fingerprints to the crime.