4 days ago
Mamre man sentenced to five years for hoax bomb threat
Ferdinand Fortuin was sentenced at the Bellville Regional Court for contravening the Terrorist Act after making a number of bomb threats at various sites in Cape Town last year.
A 50-year-old Mamre man has been sentenced to five years imprisonment for making a hoax bomb threat last year.
The Bellville Regional Court has sentenced Ferdinand Fortuin to five years' direct imprisonment after he contacted the police, telling them that he had planted bombs at the Department of Water and Sanitation, Transnet Offices, and the Bellville taxi rank.
He gave police hours to evacuate the premises. "The accused made these threats following heavy drinking on Sunday, 10 November 2024, and decided that he did not want to go to work on Monday, 11 November 2024. He left his home in Mamre with the hope that the roads leading to Bellville would be closed because of his bomb threats. They were not, and he worked the whole day," the National Prosecuting Authority said in a statement.
In his plea and sentencing agreement, Fortuin confessed that he bought a cellphone from a drug user, which he used to make hoax calls to the police and a toll-free emergency number regarding the placement of explosive devices in the buildings, of which one was where he worked.
