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| dronk op straat and the missing handcuffs |

 

In 1966, in the small town of Napier, a constable Liebenberg arrested the accused for being drunk in public. The accused was eventually convicted of being drunk in public, resisting arrest, escaping from custody, and the theft of a pair of handcuffs. The matter went on review as the question arose whether the accused had the requisite intention to steal a pair of handcuffs. The court set out the facts as below.

 

One evening, in Sarel Cilliers Street in the village of Napier, Mr Engelbrecht, who may or may not have been inebriated, was simply taking an evening stroll. Constable Liebenberg approached him, asking where he was going. At this point the version of events diverges, the accused telling one story and the constable believing another, both result in a pair of missing handcuffs..

 

According to the constable, he arrested the accused and started marching him towards the police station. At some point, the accused decided that he would go no further, a scuffle of sorts ensued and the constable threatened to handcuff the accused. The accused then overpowered him and took off with the handcuffs.

 

According to the accused, after the constable approached him, the constable hit him, and feeling threatened the accused grabbed the handcuffs out of the constable’s hands and ran away with them to protect himself from further harm. Apparently at some point the accused told the constable that he would return the handcuffs to the police station.

 

Either way, the accused never returned the handcuffs to the police station. He abandoned the handcuffs along the banks of a river on the farm Kleinsanddrif. One would assume this is where the story ends, but unfortunately luck was not on Mr Engelbrecht’s side.

 

Constable Liebenberg ran into the accused in the neighbouring village of Bredasdorp where he was arrested. The accused told him where he had abandoned the handcuffs, and a search was carried out by the constable with the help of others. The handcuffs were never recovered.

 

On review the court held that because the accused was drunk at the time he abandoned the handcuffs, he could not form the requisite intention to steal the handcuffs. The court held that he was not guilty with regards to the charge of theft, but upheld his sentence regarding the other three counts and he had to serve four months imprisonment.

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