HE THOUGHT it was his lucky day when he grabbed a generator, but instead he learnt a hard lesson.
Three security guards said they caught a man trying to steal a generator at the Ga-Rankuwa industrial site, Tshwane on Sunday afternoon.
According to the guards, the alleged thief was trying to steal the generator while holding a half-full bottle of beer.
“He dropped the generator and hit my colleague with the bottle before running away,” claimed a guard.
The guards chased him all the way to Kgabalatsane Village.
“When residents asked what he had done, we told them and they joined in the chase.”
When the thief fell, he was caught and beaten by the guards and angry residents.
The SunTeam found him bleeding on the side of the road, his hands tied with a cable tie.
He begged for forgiveness from the angry crowd but they started throwing stones at him.
He was later handed over to the cops. The people said they had lost all trust in the cops because they arrived three hours after the incident.
Police spokesman Captain Matthews Nkoadi said the suspect was charged with theft.
“He is under police guard at Odi Hospital.”
He said the cops may have got lost because most of them are not from Ga-Rankuwa and are not familiar with the neighbourhood.
“But we will investigate why they took such a long time to get to the scene.”
