Car hi-jacking sentence
The Johannesburg Magistrates’ Court sentenced a 31-year-old national to 20 years imprisonment for car hi-jacking. Gift Ndlovu was sentenced by Magistrate Thandi Twele. Three of the suspects, who were with Ndlovu during the hi-jacking, are still on the run.
34-year-old to spend 12 years in jail
Raymond Mpofu (34) will spend an effective 12 years behind bars. Mpofu was sentenced in the Randburg Magistrates’ Court by Magistrate Lebogang Leshabane. He was convicted of seven criminal offences that he had committed over the months leading to his arrest.
Mpofu was arrested in June last year for housebreaking with intent to rob and robbery with aggravating circumstances and was never granted bail. After his arrest, police positively linked him to other crimes.
He was arrested after he had broken into a home in Bromhof where he tied up the domestic worker in the bathroom. He stole a TV and other household items. A passer-by who saw him climb through the wall alerted the police and Mpofu was arrested before he could escape.
Upon his arrest, police found that he had been on a crime spree, committing house robberies in the Bromhof area. At his home in Cosmo City, police also found items that were believed to be stolen property.
Convicted murderer to appeal sentence
Convicted murderer, George Mondlana appeared briefly in the Alexandra Magistrates’ Court to appeal his 20 years imprisonment sentence and conviction. His case was postponed to 11 June in order to allow his attorney to receive transcripts of the trial.
Mondlana was sentenced in September 2016 after being found guilty of murdering a man known to him, by shooting him during an argument. Prior to his arrest, Mondlana was on the run from police for four months.
House break-in case postponed
The case against Mpho Mokwena was postponed to 14 June for a trial date to be set at the Randburg Magistrates’ Court.
The 29-year-old is charged with housebreaking with intent to steal and theft.
The state alleges that on 24 January, the accused broke into a property at Cosmo Creek in Cosmo City where he allegedly stole two laptops, three cell phones and one PlayStation.
Mokwena is out on R2 000 bail.
