Man who broke into Hawks’ offices guilty
MBOMBELA A Lowveld man was found guilty of seven counts of housebreaking and theft by the Nelspruit District Court on Friday September 16.
Daniel Wagenaar (32) had appeared in court following accusations that he had broken into the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (Hawks) offices at Van Rensburg Street in Mbombela on March 6 at 19:00.
A statement by the Mpumalanga Hawks’ spokesperson, Captain Dineo Sekgotodi, said that Mbombela’s Local Criminal Record Centre visited the crime scene and lifted fingerprints following the break-in.
“During the investigation, Wagenaar was positively linked to the crime scene. It was further established that he had failed to appear in court on March 9, 2022, for two housebreaking and theft cases that occurred in Mbombela between July 2019 and December 2021,” said Sekgotodi.
She said the Mbombela’s Hawks Serious Organised Crime Investigation team went to court to obtain a warrant for his arrest and he was traced. He was arrested on March 9 and was kept in custody until his conviction.
Wagenaar will appear in court on October 14 for a pre-sentence report.
Meanwhile, Wagenaar's mother, Petru Botha, said his family are standing firmly behind him.
"'We wish to set the record straight that Daniel was not found guilty, but plead guilty on advice of his attorney so he could get state help for his addiction," said Botha.
"Our hearts are sore because we know the person he is and that he is not the criminal he is made out to be. He has a story behind what the media have portrayed. We are currently fighting for his life.
"Unfortunately, he was caught in a web of peer pressure and addiction for the past few years and we are seeking to help him rather to have him sent to jail with hardened criminals. We pray we can have the chance to have him rehabilitated and he can have a chance at a normal life.
"According to the the American Medical Association (AMA) addiction is a disease and one that we have felt personally in our lives with him. It is true that you have no control over your addiction, and if more people researched it and helped more, perhaps these addicts would not revert to crime," she said.