Two men were sentenced by the Alexandra Magistrates’ Court to six and nine years’ imprisonment, respectively, for common robbery involving a Toyota Avanza they forcibly took from its owner.
Ayanda Ndlela (33) will serve the six years and Malisela Mushi (31), who has previous convictions, will remain behind bars for nine years for the incident which occurred at 9pm on 6 June. The two waved down the victim, a taxi driver who was alone, in Samrand Road, Midrand as he headed towards the R55 route.
At an intersection with the route, and as he headed towards Olievenbosch and Pretoria, the driver felt an object pressed on the side of his stomach. One of the two accused told him to cooperate for his safety and ordered him to stop the vehicle.
They placed him in the middle and one of them took over the driving while the other removed the victim’s shoelaces and belt which he used to tie his hands and legs together. When they asked him about the Tracker, he declined knowledge of it claiming that he had borrowed the vehicle.
They dropped him off in Blue Valley and he managed to untie himself and walked to a nearby garage where a report was made to the police. An alert circulated on the vehicle led to patrolling police in Alexandra spotting the vehicle on 4th Avenue 30 minutes later. It was stopped and the two were arrested leading to their sentencing. Mushi’s was found to have two previous convictions for robbery. The vehicle worth R75 000 was returned to the victim.
Related articles:
Police arrest suspect in possession of hijacked car and Metro police uniforms
Fake cop syndicates dupe victims of stolen, hijacked vehicles
