Vosloorus businessman sentenced 18 years for attempted murder and kidnapping

Trever Tebogo Poe (39) has been sentenced and convicted to 18 years direct imprisonment by the Vosloorus Magistrate’s Court on charges of attempted murder and the kidnapping of Sabelo Hlwatshwayo (31) on December 6, 2021.

This follows after Poe confused Hlwatshwayo for a thief. He attacked and assaulted him before dragging him into his vehicle to dump him at an open field near Thelle Mogoerane Regional Hospital (TMRH) at Vosloorus.

Detective Sergeant Noel Mavundla from Vosloorus SAPS, the investigating officer (IO) said Hlwatshwayo’s mother reported the case.

He said the mother was at work when the incident occurred. Her daughter informed her telephonically that her brother was found injured in an open field.

The mother asked Hlwatshwayo’s brother to check on him, as she was still on duty. He was at TMRH where he was receiving medical treatment.

The mother later visited and started engaging him to find out what had happened.

Hlwatshwayo explained to his mother his security guard friend was away for a visit and asked him to stand in for him to guard the premises at 13063 Ikobe Street, East Field Ext 23, Voloorus, without informing the landlord.

Mavundla said according to statements made by Hlwatshwayo in court, the landlord did not know him. He thought he was a thief and started assaulting him.

“I could not confirm what object he used to assault him, but according to Hlwatshwayo, he used a panga while they were still in the house.

“He then took him to the open field and continued assaulting him. Pedestrians found him unconscious in the field. They took him to TMRH,” said Mavundla.

He said the J88 report and photographs presented as evidence in court showed the victim had sustained an open wound cut on his forehead, bruises on his body, and a fracture on his right leg and left hand.

Mavundla said the police arrested Poe a day after the case was reported.

“After the case was assigned to me, Poe came to the police station to report a burglary case. Fortunately, the same group of officers on duty the previous afternoon were at the client service centre.

“Sergeant Mokosi, who assisted Hlwatshwayo’s mother to register the case, was present and Poe was arrested on the spot.

“The case was not placed on a court roll on December 8, because it was a skeleton docket. It was opened on behalf of the victim,” he explained.

That gave Mavundla time to proceed with the investigation and obtain the necessary statements, including the J88 report.

“After I completed my investigation, I took the matter back to court for a decision on December 23, 2022, and the docket was returned with the J175 (summons) to serve the accused to return to court.”

Poe’s first appearance was on January 23, 2023, and he was convicted on July 26, 2023.

Mavundla said Poe showed remorse during the court proceeding, citing that he wanted to apologise to the victim’s family and approached him for advice.

“I could not advise him on anything because of a conflict of interest. I was between the victim and the accused. I cannot spend most of my time with the accused. I have to spend more time with the complainant.”

“But based on my observation as I spoke to him about the case, he could see that what he has done is wrong and was willing to apologise,” he said.

The accused was guilty on both counts. For count one (attempted murder) he was sentenced to 12 years imprisonment, and for count two (kidnapping) he got sentenced to six years. The two counts will run concurrently.

Challenges

Mavundla noted investigating the case was not a walk in the park.

“It was difficult because the mother is an ex-police officer. They usually wanted me to update them every day.”
“The system has been made simple. Even if the investigating officer does not go to them, the system updates the complainant about the movement of the docket,” he added.

“When a docket is taken to court and back to the police station, a message is sent to the complainant’s phone. Unfortunately, the victim’s family is my back opposite neighbour. I usually spoke to them, but they wanted more because they see me every day as their neighbour.

“Somewhere and somehow, I used to get tired because every time I saw them, I had to explain. But, I continued until the end, even if it was ups and downs,” said Mavundla.

He said other challenges to the investigation were there were no tenants in the rental rooms and no eyewitnesses.

“The only people who saw him are those that found him unconscious. However, they did not witness the incident.

”I could not trace them for an interview because the victim did not remember them and his sister could not remember the number that called her to report the incident,” he shared.

He said obtaining statements from both the victims and the accused’s families also posed a challenge. At times, he would think everything was completed, but the court would return it with other queries.

“There was a time I had to go to the accused’s father to obtain a statement, only to find he was not in a good state of mind. I had to take a statement from his aunts, confirming that the father was not well and getting treatment.”

He said the challenge while investigating was a lot of ups and downs and when they go to the victim’s family for further statements, they would complain that they already provided statements.

He further noted that at times he was accused of attempting to sabotage the case.

“When the court says rectify information on the statement, I do not make the correction, it has to be done by the victim.

“When you go back to the victim they say they have already done it, but the court does not want it like that. They want more details and clarity.

“You find that the IO and the victim are pulling in different directions. It becomes more challenging for me as the IO to deal with such kinds of persons because when the query looks similar, you do not know whether you should go back to the victim. After all, you know their response,” he said.

Reacting to this successful conviction, Mavundla said he feels great and appreciated his colleagues Sergeant Ntombi Shimange and Sergeant Katekane Sarila who assisted on the case.

“It shows that we can do more working together and it motivates me when I was not available, I would ask my colleagues to continue with the investigation.

“Sometimes I used to send them to do something for me on the case and they were hands-on,” he concluded.

Poe started serving his sentence at Boksburg Correctional Service on July 26.