A serial robber has been sentenced to 18 years imprisonment in the Oudtshoorn Regional Court in the Western Cape.
Brendon Prinsloo from Bridgton was convicted on a count of assault with intent to do grievous bodily harm, seven counts of robbery with aggravating circumstances, and housebreaking with intent to steal and theft.
The provincial spokesperson for the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA), Eric Ntabazalila said the spate of crimes committed by Prinsloo began on August 26, 2017.
“He brutally attacked his girlfriend, Lu-Anne Pote, after she informed him that she would visit her friend. He became jealous, and angry, and hit her with a stone on the head, with a wood saw on the back, kicked, and slapped her.
“He also hit her with a hockey stick which fractured her left arm as she attempted to cover her head. After she fell, he picked up a big stone and was about to throw it on her head when her mother intervened,” Ntabazalila said.
State Prosecutor Hyron Goulding called 15 witnesses to testify against Prinsloo.
On March 3, 2019, in Kameel Road in Bridgton, the court heard Prinsloo threatened Relton Stuurman, 22, with a panga and robbed him of his cellphone and identity document while pretending to assist him when his vehicle broke down.
On August 25, 2019, in Dassie Road, Prinsloo and a friend robbed and stabbed 50-year-old Stuart Harcombe of his cellphone worth R500.
On September 22, 2019, Andre Dido, 34, was on his way home after walking his girlfriend home when Prinsloo and his friend confronted him. They robbed him of R4,000, a sweater, and a hat. They threatened to stab him.
On October 4, 2019, Prinsloo strangled and pepper sprayed Shaun Ayford, 35, and robbed him of R50 and a music box.
On November 7, 2019, in the same street, Prinsloo threatened a spaza shop owner with a knife and robbed him of R5,600.
He previously worked at the Ethiopian national’s spaza shop.
The court further heard on April 22, 2020, Prinsloo threatened a 36-year-old spaza owner with a knife and robbed him of R4,500 and five crates filled with loaves of bread valued at R800.
On April 26, 2020, Prinsloo and five men threatened 25-year-old Dillon Blignaut with a knife and robbed him of a bicycle valued at R4,000 and a cellphone worth R1,700. At the time of the incident, Blignaut was on his way to fetch his mother’s medication.
The court further heard Prinsloo broke into the home of a 23-year-old woman and she woke up when he took her cellphone from under her pillow on September 28, 2019. After committing his crime spree, Prinsloo went into hiding but was arrested on August 9, 2020.
He was sentenced to three years imprisonment for assault with intent to do grievous bodily harm, 18 years imprisonment for the seven counts of robbery with aggravating circumstances, and three years imprisonment for housebreaking with intent to steal and theft. The court ordered the sentences to run concurrently and declared him unfit to possess a firearm.
Before his sentencing, Prinsloo was sentenced to eight years direct imprisonment on November 14, 2022, for an unrelated charge of robbery with aggravating circumstances.
“The NPA welcomes the sentence and hopes the residents of Bridgton and greater Oudtshoorn will breathe a sigh of relief, as authorities do their best to arrest the spate of violent crimes in their communities,” Ntabazalila said.
robin.francke@iol.co.za
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