The infamous “Dik Skelm” is officially back in business and has been arrested again for allegedly impersonating a police officer as she stole entjies from a winkel in Lansdowne.
Just weeks after convicted fraudster Portia “Bompie” Goodwin told the Daily Voice she was “done with the thug life,” the 36-year-old has been busted again, this time for trying to con a Bangladeshi shop manager.
The Manenberg woman spent three years in the mang after she was convicted of fraud for scamming dozens of Cape Flats mense out of thousands of rands by selling them fake shopping vouchers.
She was released on parole in September 2019.
According to a police source, Bompie and her friends were nabbed in Lansdowne after a slim shopkeeper realised they were trying to con him and locked them up in the winkel.
“She and three of her friends arrived at a shop in Old Strandfontein Road and told the manager they are police detectives,” says the source.
“There were two men and a woman with her and she was carrying boxes of cigarettes.
“Somehow she knew that police had recently confiscated cigarettes from the shop and told the manager she was the detective on the case and was there to return the cigarettes.”
The source says Bompie allegedly told the manager she needed to check his storeroom before handing the cigarettes back and when he opened the gate, her female friend picked up 20 cartons of his entjies and walked out.
“The manager was very brave and realised something was wrong, so he ran outside and locked the other three in the shop,” says the source.
“The friend had already packed the 20 cartons in a silver Toyota Avanza, but did not have the keys so she couldn’t run away. He phoned the police and all four were caught.”
Police spokesperson Colonel Andrè Traut confirms the incident and says the four have been detained on fraud charges.
The suspects will appear in Wynberg Magistrates’ Court later this week.
Earlier this month, Bompie handed herself over to Diep River SAPS after a shopkeeper was injured trying to stop her from driving away with stolen chocolates and cellphone chargers.
Despite security footage of her at the Plumstead store going viral, she denied stealing the items and claimed the shopkeeper sold her fake entjies - which he has denied.
Last week, word spread in Mitchells Plain that Bompie had robbed a Colorado Park shop of entjies worth R6000, but the winkel owner declined to comment and opted not to open a case.
monique.duval@inl.co.za