Durban — The Verulam Regional Court has sentenced five robbers to a combined 125 years in prison for robbing a jewellery store at Phoenix Plaza in February 2018.
Police spokesperson Colonel Robert Netshiunda said that investigations by the police’s Organised Crime Unit have secured a 125 years imprisonment sentence to five accused who were successfully convicted for armed robbery cases.
“Siyanda Blose, 40, Siyanda Mthethwa, 35, Philani Ngwane, 32, Siboniso Ndlovu, 31, and Mbongeni Mlotshwa, 30, were each found guilty on three counts of armed robbery in the Verulam Regional Court on Friday, March 17, 2023. The five accused were each sentenced to 13 years imprisonment on count one, six years each for count two and three. Sentences on counts two and three were to run concurrently with count one’s sentence,” Netshiunda said.
“The sixth accused, Ntokozo Sosibo, 32, had earlier pleaded guilty to all charges of armed robbery and was sentenced to 10 years in prison,” he said.
Netshiunda said that the six armed robbers stormed into a jewellery store at Phoenix Plaza in February 2018 and helped themselves to jewellery worth an undisclosed amount of money as well as two cellphones. The investigation officer presented solid evidence which convinced the court to deny the accused bail until the day of their sentencing.
National Prosecuting Authority KwaZulu-Natal spokesperson Natasha Ramkisson-Kara said that the Verulam Magistrate’s Court sentenced Mthethwa, Blose, Ngwane, Mlotshwa and Ndlovu to an effective 13 years imprisonment following their conviction on three counts of robbery.
On the day of the incident, the suspects were spotted by an off-duty policeman who pursued them. Soon other police officers joined the chase and the suspects were arrested with the jewellery still in their possession.
Ramkisson-Kara said that in court State advocate Rakesh Singh led the testimonies of the SAPS members who effected the arrest as well as the staff who were on duty in the store during the robbery. Advocate Singh also led CCTV footage, DNA evidence from the vehicle and cellphone evidence showing that all the men were in the shopping centre at the time of the robbery.
In sentencing them, the court took into consideration that they had been in custody since their arrest, and thus deviated from the minimum sentence of 15 years imprisonment. Each of them were sentenced to 13 years imprisonment for robbing the store; and six years imprisonment for each of the two counts of robbery where they robbed the employees. The court ruled that the sentences run concurrently resulting in the effective 13 years imprisonment.
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