Court delivers blow to thieving delivery man
He has been ordered to pay back the money and to refund his former employer more than US$7,000.
CAPE TOWN, April 23 (ANA) – An Eastern Cape man has been sentenced in the Serious Commercial Crimes Court in Gqeberha on 13 counts of theft.
Provincial spokesperson for the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation Captain Yolisa Mgolodela said in a statement that Stephen John du Plessis, 40, who was employed as a delivery man for BDL Multi Distributors, a firm that specialises in manufacturing plastic drums to sell for storage purposes, was convicted of stealing from the company.
She said it was reported that Du Plessis would offload more items than stated on the delivery invoice.
According to Mgolodela, Du Plessis also received cash from company clients and failed to deposit it into the company’s account.
“The illegal transactions occurred during the period May 31, 2017, and February 8, 2018, and prejudiced the company cash to the value of R200,000 (about US$14,000),” she said.
The company, which started realising a decline in its profits, reported the matter to the Gqeberha Serious Commercial Crime Investigation team, who conducted a thorough investigation that led to the arrest of Du Plessis on October 31, 2019.
Du Plessis was released on R1,500 bail that same day.
After several court appearances, Du Plessis was convicted on January 28, 2021.
When handing down sentence, the court ordered that Du Plessis be placed under 36 months’ correctional supervision and sentenced him to four years’ imprisonment, suspended for five years.
Du Plessis was also ordered to pay back the money and has to refund his former employer a total of R111,845.17 (about US$7,000).
– African News Agency (ANA); Editing by Yaron Blecher