An alleged burglar, connected to several cases of housebreaking in and around Louis Trichardt, cliams he is not the man captured on security footage.

Andrew Masinya Mudau appeared in the Louis Trichardt regional court last Thursday on four charges of housebreaking with the intent to steal, theft and one charge of attempted housebreaking. He was arrested following an incident on May 10, 2009 when he allegedly robbed Pep Stores in Songozwi Street.

During his trail, video footage was handed over to the court as evidence. On the security tape, a man can be seen entering the shop. Mudau was apprehended after police viewed footage of him allegedly climbing on a step ladder in an attempt to disable the security camera. Looking directly into the camera, the burglar can be seen, shortly before the camera is disconnected.

During Mudau´s trial, divisional admin manager of Pep Stores, Mr Barry Kuwal, testified that they realised that a robbery took place when some of the cellphones were found lying on the floor and next to it the badly smashed up video camera. Kuwal was fortunate enough to have the footage recovered and immediately notified the police of his discovery.

With this evidence police were able to link Mudau with an additional four cases of housebreaking.

In November, Mudau allegedly robbed the shop of Tshililo Selina Tshisikhawe of various household items totalling almost R22 000. Only a week later he allegedly robbed the local Total Sports, nabbing an assortment of sport items and soccer jerseys worth almost R38 000. A month later, in December, he is accused of targeting the same Pep Stores store, this time gaining entry by making a hole in the store’s roof and stealing goods to the value of R47 000. Before his arrest, Mudau allegedly also broke into a doctor’s office in Krogh Street.

Some of the stolen goods from the different robberies were found in Mudau’s possession and was recovered by the police and later identified by the shop owners.

Mudau, who chose to defend himself, pleaded not guilty on all five charges saying “he knows nothing about these allegations.” He also denied that he was the person on the video footage, saying that the person “might look like him” but that “it is not me.”

Mudau’s trail was postponed until Wednesday, March 9 when the State’s other witnesses are expected to testify. Mudau will remain in custody until then.