Habitual criminal gets 30-year sentence
ALEXANDRA – Man's 30-year crime spree comes to an end with a plea.
A habitual criminal was sentenced to 30 years’ imprisonment for robbery with aggravating circumstances by the Alexandra Magistrate’s Court.
Thabiso Maphakiso’s (39) crime spree started with housebreaking in 1987 when he was lashed for the offence and includes 10 previous convictions for housebreaking, two for armed robbery, two for hijacking with aggravating circumstances and one for the possession of an illegal firearm.
After investigations proved his involvement in the recent two armed hijacking incidents, he was sentenced to 15 years’ imprisonment for each hijacking. Five of the years were commuted leaving him with 25 years behind bars.
He and an accomplice who is still at large hijacked a Fiat Strada from a motorist at the traffic lights at the M1 off-ramp to Marlboro Drive. Maphakiso pointed a gun at the victim through a partially open window, ordered him out and the pair drove off in the vehicle. Metro police officers alerted to the incident pursued the vehicle which they found abandoned in Alexandra after it hit a pole.
An investigation linked him to another armed hijacking of a Ford Figo on 20 April this year from a motorist who he also assaulted at the intersection of 8th and Alfred Nzo avenues, Alexandra. He also took the victim’s cell phone, jacket and wallet containing bank cards. It wasn’t specified if the vehicle was recovered.
The accused pleaded with the magistrate in vain to sentence him with his accomplice who he couldn’t identify and who is still at large so that they could share the burden.
Related article:
