WESTERN CAPE – Thembinkosi Lesele (47), a former police officer based at Lingelethu West SAPS appeared at the Atlantis Regional Court on the 14 December 2021 for sentencing on a charge of armed robbery with aggravating circumstances.

A delivery truck loaded with alcohol was stopped on Klipheuwel road in Malmesbury near Cape Town on the 08 December 2009. An on-duty police officer driving a police marked vehicle assisted by three others in civilian clothing approached the driver and one passenger. The police pointed them with his service firearm demanding their cellphones and took R40 000-00 cash before fleeing the crime scene.

Lesele was arrested on the 17 December 2009 by the Hawks Serious Corruption investigation team, after he had been linked to the armed robbery incident that happened two days before his arrest and was later released on R10 000-00 bail.

He had been convicted on 10 March 2021 for the crime and his bail was withdrawn until his sentencing yesterday. Lesele was subsequently sentenced to 12 years direct imprisonment.

Source: South African Police Service