Garage robber sentenced to 55 years behind bars
BRIXTON – Accused sentenced to five and a half decades imprisonment for business robbery.
The Brixton Regional Court found a 31-year-old foreign national guilty on four counts of business robbery on February 14.
According to Captain Xoli Mbele of the Office of the Johannesburg District Commander Major General Masha, he was sentenced to 55 years behind bars. Mbele said the conviction was for a robbery that took place at a filling station on the corner of Beyers Naudé Drive and Wilson Street in Fairland on July 26, 2020.
He explained, “They (the accused and two of his accomplices) entered the shop pretending to be customers. The accused pointed a firearm at customers and employees and his accomplices took an undisclosed amount of money from the tills. The accused also robbed the Wimpy inside the garage. He tried to rob a cellphone of a customer and a fight ensued.”
Two of the suspects managed to run away but one of them, the accused, was overpowered and apprehended along with the firearm being confiscated.
The accused was sentenced to 15 years each for business robbery at the garage; business robbery at the restaurant; armed robbery; and 10 years for attempted robbery, resulting in 55 years. The sentences will run concurrently. He was in custody until he was sentenced and will serve 20 years effectively.
Mbele expressed, “This good conviction is a result of diligent work done by the investigating Warrant Officer Willem van Rooyen of Johannesburg Central Trio Detectives. We hope this sentence will scare away would-be offenders from committing the same crimes.”
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