A former Hawks officer was sentenced to 15 years behind bars by the Durban Regional Court on Wednesday for stealing police firearms for 17 years.
Daniel Casparus Reynecke, 65, was a police officer from 1976 to 2015 and was part of the Durban Organised Crime Unit (OCU).
Warrant Officer Bonnie Nxumalo, the police spokesperson said Reynecke stole firearms from several police stations in the northern KwaZulu-Natal under the guise of taking them for ballistic testing. He never returned the firearms to the police stations.
Reynecke committed the crimes between 1997 and 2014. Nxumalo said the Hawks launched an investigation into Reynecke and was found to be in possession of stolen firearms.
Nxumalo said: “Reynecke had five licensed firearms under his name but only three were found and the others could not be located. He had not reported any loss of his licensed firearms, thus he was charged with negligent loss of firearms.
“Two of the firearms, which he signed for in 1997 and 2001, were found in a river in Amanzimtoti, about 500 metres away from where he resided at the time. Other firearms were found in his office, even though there was a standing order which did not permit the member of the OCU to keep exhibits on the premises,” said Natasha Ramkisoon-Kara, the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) spokesperson.
He was arrested in July 2018 and released on a warning.
“He was then convicted in June 2022, after which he absconded before he could be sentenced. A warrant of arrest was issued by the court, and he recently returned, citing that he was physically not well.”
Source: News24, The Citizen, Times Live, Sunday World, image from Twitter
