Life in jail for robbers
2006-01-26
SEVEN armed robbers who held up a security van in Paarl three years ago, were each sentenced to life-long imprisonment this week.
A strong police contingent was present in the Paarl regional court when the sentences were handed down, to prevent an escape bid of which the authorities had gotten wind last week.
The robbers, taxi driver Tembalozi Mfomele (45) and six Nyanga residents in their twenties, were arrested within an hour after the attack in July 2002.
Ten men, armed to the teeth, held up two Coin Security employees at the Drakenstein service station in Huguenot.
Detectives Gerrit Boois and Jerome Steenkamp, who saw the incident, raised the alarm and a high-speed chase ensued.
The get-away taxi was forced off the N1 opposite Simonsvlei wine cellar.
One of the robbers held a farmer’s wife hostage, but gave himself up after warning shots by Inspectors Robert Muller and Pieter Maritz.
While passing motorists stared in disbelief, the taxi was searched and four firearms, ammunition, cellular phones and four moneyboxes secured.
At the same time a farmer on the Agter-Paarl Road was forced from his bakkie by three members of the same gang.
They transferred five moneyboxes to his vehicle and drove with him to a squatter camp along the N2.
The farmer was set free when the men disappeared with his bakkie.
The investigating officer, Insp Randy Wessels of the provincial unit against organised crime, was ecstatic when magistrate Annamarie Immelman handed down sentence on Tuesday.
Immelman said in court: “Let this sentence be a deterrent to all potential armed robbers.”
Eight policemen stood on guard as she sentenced each accused to 25 years in prison.
The robbers, were visibly shocked at the sentence. Parents of the younger accused burst out crying while one mother fell to the floor of
the courtroom, unconscious.
More
News
|
