A local resident who was, last month, convicted of theft, after stealing a cellphone from an Uber driver (see Laudium Sun August 12, issue), now stands accused of being involved in another incident of theft.
Sheldon Arnechellan of Grey Street, Laudium, was found guilty of stealing a cellphone from an Uber driver and was sentenced last month, to 12 months imprisonment, which was suspended for 5 years, providing he is not convicted of a similar charge within the 5 year period.
According to evidence presented in court,Sheldon had asked the Uber driver to loan him his cellphone to make a call, but soon thereafter ran away with the Uber driver’s phone. The Uber driver called for assistance and soon thereafter, together with his colleagues, managed to find Sheldon. They apparently beat him up, before handing him over to the Laudium Police.
However, this past Tuesday (August 30) at around 1pm, the Laudium Sun received a complaint from an Uber driver, that an Indian male had stolen his cellphone, a Samsung A32 and cash before running away. The driver, Phila Tsaulwayo, from Danville (Madira) who visited the office of the Laudium Sun, also mentioned to the Laudium Sun, that he was informed by certain people to approach the Laudium Sun, as we had recently published a photo of “a person involved in a similar case”. When the Laudium Sun showed the driver our article of August 12, the driver immediately recognized the photo of Sheldon, alleging that Sheldon was the perpetrator in his matter.
Phila added, “I got a pick up request from a passenger, to pick him up in West Park at ‘Pop In’ and then brought the passenger to Laudium, to 6th Ave, in the Laudium CBD. However the passenger told me to wait as he was waiting for his mum who he said was at OK Supermarket and then he said he wanted me to take them both to Danville. The client then jumped out of the car acting like he was waiting for his mother. He than came back to the car and asked me to borrow him my phone. After giving him the phone, he asked me if I could lend him R20 so long to buy something, as his mother has all his money and she would pay me back. So I did not worry as he told me that he just wanted to call his mother on my phone, to find out why she was taking so long. He then told me that he was coming back in a moment to buy something with the R20 and went into the fruit and veg shop, next to the supermarket. As he was taking a while, I went to look for him inside the shop, but he was nowhere to be found. I even described him to the people in the shop, as the passenger was wearing a red hat and white t-shirt, but no one had a clue. I think he went out of the shop from the back door or sneaked out again, as I was not watching the shop all the time. My driver’s license was in the pouch of my cellphone, which is now causing a problem for my work. I am so disappointed that someone who I tried to help, could do this to me. I will now report the matter to the police, seeing that I got his details from your paper, whom I can identify as Sheldon. Thanks for your assistance.”
Sgt Simon Chokoe of the Laudium SAPS, said he was not aware of the case and also if the suspect is indeed Sheldon.
* Attempts to get hold of Sheldon for comment, were unsuccessful.
