Hacker gets 3 years in jail for stealing R600k meant to feed Eastern Cape pupils

Sitting at his home in Johannesburg, a skilled cyber-criminal hacked into the Eastern Cape education department's online payment system and paid himself R600 000 - money that was meant to feed needy pupils at public schools in the province.

The East London Specialised Commercial Crime Court convicted and sentenced Bruce Owen, 44, for the incident in 2010, but it took the Hawks a decade to trace and arrest him.  

Owen was finally sentenced on Wednesday when the court slammed him with three years' direct imprisonment on charges of theft.