North man sentenced to 15 years for east business robbery
“The suspect later returned to fetch the car but found a police officer already reporting it to the control centre as suspicious,” said Maheso adding the man had offered the officer a bribe to release the car to him instead.
A Soshanguve man will spend 15 years behind bars.
Dumasani Nkosi was arrested in March 2016 in connection with the robbery of a cellphone store in Denlyn Mall in Mamelodi West.
At the time, he was out on parole following a previous conviction.
According to police spokesperson Captain Johannes Maheso, Nkosi and about six other men surprised the staff at the store, loaded the stolen cellphones into a bin but later abandoned it en route to the getaway car as the men aborted their robbery.
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Maheso said the men fled on foot, leaving both their loot and the car.
“The suspect later returned to fetch the car but found a police officer already reporting it to the control centre as suspicious,” said Maheso adding the man had offered the officer a bribe to release the car to him instead.
“He was arrested for attempting to bribe a police officer.”
“The suspect was then identified by the cellphone store staff as one of the robbers.”
“He was sentenced to a collective 15 years for the business robbery and attempted bribery of a police officer on 13 October. The two sentences will run concurrently.
Maheso said Nkosi’s accomplices were still at large and asked the public to assist the police with any information that could lead to their arrest.
He warned criminals planning to rob businesses at the malls that “our highly trained detectives are going to deal with each case very seriously”.
“We have police visibility at the mall, community policing forum security guards and the members of the community. We will make sure our malls become a crime-free zone, especially now [during] the festive season.”
He congratulated the investigating officer for securing a good conviction.
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