An alleged car thief was immediately "imprisoned" by technology.
Hemman Mathebe, 23, of Mamelodi East, was trapped in a VW Golf 5 for at least two hours while the driver was partying in a Hatfield club.
He pleaded not guilty to a charge of attempted vehicle theft.
Natasha Labotski told the Pretoria Regional Court that she and a friend parked her mother's car across the street from the club on the night of November 30 last year.
"When we got out of the car, I pressed the remote to lock it. We walked across the street and, without looking, I pressed the remote again over my shoulder in the direction of the car, just to make sure it was locked," she recalled.
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About two hours later someone came into the club looking for her.
They said someone was locked inside her car.
Police Inspector Stephanus Dreyer testified that they were patrolling the streets when a security guard flagged them down, saying someone was locked inside a vehicle. "The person inside panicked. We tried to open the door, but couldn't. I told and gestured to him to open it from the inside, but he gestured back that he couldn't," the inspector testified.
He sent someone to look for the driver of the car.
When Labotski arrived, she said she did not know the man inside the vehicle. When she unlocked the door Mathebe got out.
"All he said was 'Sorry, sorry'," Dreyer said.
However, the accused claimed in court that he was a car guard and the two girls had asked him if he would sit inside the vehicle and protect it. He said they'd asked him if he would mind if they locked him in, and he had agreed.
Labotski denied this, saying she did not ask anyone to sit inside the vehicle.
Mathebe was earlier granted bail of R2 000, but remains in custody as he could not pay. The trial was postponed to October for the evidence of Labotski's friend.
The State also indicated that it might call an expert to testify on how the locking system of the vehicle worked.
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This article was originally published on page 1 of Pretoria News on October 01, 2008
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