The Alex Magistrates’ Court recently sentenced a man to 15 years imprisonment for robbery.
The man with three accomplices, who are still at large, robbed a man and his wife of their possessions as they were walking home on 14 January at midnight.
The incident happened after the couple had alighted from a taxi from Mpumalanga. As they walked along 5th Avenue, a biker rode past and then turned back towards them, blocked their way and pointed a gun at them demanding their possessions. At that moment, the biker’s three accomplices appeared from nearby toilets and stole the couple’s suitcase with clothes, a handbag and two cellphones. One of them stabbed the man in the hand.
Four days later, the victim [man] came across a person near Madala Hostel on the same avenue wearing a T-shirt identical to one that was in the stolen suitcase. The person said he had bought it and other items and could identify the sellers. They exchanged numbers. Two days later, the person called the victim after seeing one of the sellers and another person enter a tavern in the same vicinity. They met and called 10111 which dispatched police who apprehended the two men. The victim identified the sentenced men as the biker who had robbed them.
A legal expert said robbers often work in groups and when arrested, protect each other by not revealing details of accomplices. Also, they took care of dependents of arrested accomplices including paying bail.
