'BABALAS BOMBER' GETS 5 YEARS

"TERRORIST" Ferdinand Fortuin has been sentenced to five years in the mang by Bellville Regional Court for calling in hoax bomb threats. 

According to the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA), the 50-year-old made these threats on 11 November 2024, after a night of heavy drinking because he didn't want to go to work.

Fortuin, from Mamre, claimed that he had planted bombs at the Department of Water and Sanitation, Transnet Offices, and the Bellville taxi rank, of which one building was where he worked.

NPA spokesperson Eric Ntabazalila explained: “He gave police hours to evacuate the premises.

“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.”

According to the NPA 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.

Fortuin was arrested and charged with four counts of contravention of the Protection of Constitutional Democracy Against Terrorism and Related Activities Act 33 of 2004 (POCDATARA) and for contravention of the Explosives Act 26 of 1956.

The NPA said the prescribed minimum sentence is 15 years' direct imprisonment unless the court finds substantial and compelling circumstances to deviate from the prescribed sentence.

However, the court deviated from this after they found that Fortuin was a first offender, he had pleaded guilty, had strong personal circumstances, had shown remorse, and his acknowledgement of guilt made him a good candidate for a rehabilitative sentence.