The Alex Magistrates’ Court recently remanded two men in custody pending their sentencing on 12 July for a case of armed robbery.
The men aged 27 and 23 pleaded guilty to the armed robbery. This after they were refused bail on three previous court appearances when they denied involvement in the case.
The court heard that at 11am on 19 January, the two drove a Nissan 1400 which they parked a distance from a Somali-owned shop in Tsutsumani. At the shop, they ordered the shop owner and his assistant to lie down at gunpoint. They robbed the owner of a cellphone, airtime worth R1 500 and R2 000 in cash. When they left, they locked the two victims inside the shop.
The owner is said to have opened the shop using spare keys, and when outside, he and the assistant saw the two robbers walking towards their car and gave chase. The robbers split up and ran off. The community joined in the chase and caught one who they found with most of the stolen money and airtime.
Police were called to pick him up.
At that moment, the arrested robber is said to have spotted his accomplice driving the Nissan nearby and he was stopped and also arrested. The police are said to have found the Nokia cellphone which was handed back to the shop owner.
The gun used in the robbery was not found and the Nissan was checked, but was not found to be a stolen vehicle.
