The Hatfield Magistrate’s Court has denied bail to parolee Thabo Enoch Theletsane, who is facing charges of fraud and allegedly impersonating former Hawks Head, Lieutenant General Godfrey Lebeya.
Theletsane – who was out on parole after serving time for another fraud case – allegedly contacted a businessman on WhatsApp using Lebeya’s profile picture.
“[He] allegedly claimed his phone had been hacked and that the businessman would be contacted by ‘Mr. Mokoena’, purportedly a police officer from the cybercrime unit. Posing as ‘Mr. Mokoena,’ Theletsane allegedly told the businessman that his phone had been hacked and offered to ‘clean’ it.
“He is accused of requesting the businessman’s frequently used contact numbers, which he then obtained. The accused allegedly asked the businessman to make a payment for a hard drive to store his information; however, this payment was not made,” the National Prosecuting Authority said in a statement.
According to the statement, Theletsane then contacted another complainant “using the numbers supplied by the businessman”.
“He allegedly told the second complainant that their phone had been hacked and requested a payment of R50 000 for a hard drive to store their information. The complainant paid the money.
“After realising they had been defrauded, both victims reported the matter to the police on 01 November 2024,” the statement read.
Theletsane was arrested in May this year following an investigation and subsequently applied for bail on the basis that he is a father of seven with “another on the way to provide for”.
“Prosecutor Dikeledi Moganyaka opposed the bail application and read into the record an affidavit by investigating officer Mpho Phantinah Dlamini. The affidavit stated that the accused had deliberately given a false address during the investigation and had two previous convictions for fraud and forgery from 2020, making him likely to reoffend if released.
“In delivering judgment, the magistrate agreed with the State that the accused has the propensity of committing crime since he is alleged to have committed the current offences just days after being released on parole. The court also found his claims about the parole board to be unsubstantiated and ruled that releasing him would not be in the interest of justice,” the statement said.
The case was postponed to September. – SAnews.gov.za
