Mr Brian Homewood from Louis Trichardt went through a tough time after doing business with a local second-hand vehicle dealer, Petrus Johannes "Pieter" Engelbrecht.

Homewood earlier this year told his story to the Zoutpansberger of how he had been swindled out of his car by Engelbrecht. It all happened during March of last year when Homewood told someone he wanted to sell his double-cab bakkie. He was referred to Engelbrecht.

Homewood said that he phoned Engelbrecht, who told him that he (Engelbrecht) had a buyer for the bakkie and that the whole transaction would be completed within a week. Engelbrecht allegedly also told Homewood that he needed to collect the vehicle from him, as the buyer was somewhere in Gauteng and wanted to have a look at the bakkie. Homewood said Engelbrecht also asked for all of the vehicle’s documentation as it would be easier to convince the buyer that it was a good deal.

Homewood agreed but never saw his vehicle or Engelbrecht again.

After a couple of weeks, Homewood eventually went to the police and opened a case against Engelbrecht. At that stage, it came to light that Engelbrecht had scammed a second resident, Mr Shumani Mbedzi, out of his vehicle also. Engelbrecht was arrested soon afterwards but was released within a day after paying his bail.

In the meantime, the police investigation continued. It was found that Engelbrecht had sold both vehicles to a well-known second-hand vehicle dealership in Polokwane, pocketing the money totalling about R150 000. When questioned as to why he had never handed the money over to his clients, Engelbrecht claimed that he had taken the money with him on a visit to Sunnyside in Pretoria, where his own vehicle, with the money inside, was stolen. Police investigated further but could not find any evidence of Engelbrecht´s claim. He had never even reported his own vehicle as stolen.

Engelbrecht was charged with two counts of theft and was tried on both counts simultaneously. Court proceedings were postponed on several occasions while Engelbrecht apparently tried to raise the money owed to Homewood and Mbedzi. This did not happen.

On Monday, December 3, Engelbercht appeared in the Louis Trichardt regional court. He entered into a plea bargain with the State and was fined R30 000 or three years’ imprisonment, half of which was suspended for a period of five years. Engelbrecht has several previous convictions against him, dating back to 1989. In 2003, he was convicted on a similar charge of vehicle theft at Sea Point in Cape Town and sentence to a fine of R86 000 or 600 days imprisonment. This amount was later reduced to R58 000.

In the meantime, Engelbrecht will remain in custody, pending the outcome of another court case against him at Waterval.