A man was sentenced to three years imprisonment by Alexandra Magistrates’ Court for a business robbery he committed on 25 February, with two suspects who are still at large.
Tebogo Mphahlele (25) of 16th Avenue was convicted after pleading guilty to the robbery of a man on the same street at 12.30pm.
The court heard that after the three suspects entered the shop in Ext 7, one of them pointed a gun at the victim and another brandished a knife. The victim was outside the shop offloading goods at the time of the incident. The third suspect searched the victim’s pockets and stole R600 in cash, his driver’s licence and his asylum document.
An asylum document is granted to those who have fled their country of origin for fear of persecution and do not have legal documents such as a passport or visa.
Before the suspects escaped, they told the victim that he could get the asylum document back if he paid them R300. They gave him a phone number to call when he was ready.
The victim reported the incident to the police the same day and a trap was set. Police asked the victim to call the number he had been given which Mphahlele answered. He told the victim to meet him on the corner of 14th and Richard Baloyi avenues to exchange the money for the document.
When the suspect arrived, the police pounced and arrested him before the exchange. They searched him and retrieved only the asylum document which was handed to the victim.
The police are still on the hunt for the other two suspects.
