JUST IN: Fourth suspect arrested in Yzelle Greyling kidnapping case

UPDATE: 2pm

A 32-year-old suspect was arrested at his home in Margate this morning.

Police spokesman Captain Petros Mpinge said he will appear in the Port Shepstone Magistrate’s court tomorrow (Friday).

This is an evolving story and we will update it as it develops.

ORIGINAL STORY: 11am

UPDATE: Yzelle’s kidnappers jailed

Andre Breedt (34), Alistair Grobbelaar (47) and Lindani Raymond Mnguni (28) yesterday (Wednesday) pleaded guilty in the Port Shepstone Regional Court to kidnapping Yzelle Greyling.

ALSO READ: JUST IN: Third man arrested in Yzelle Greyling kidnapping case

They were sentenced to six years’ imprisonment by acting senior magistrate Basil King.

For the two counts of kidnapping Ms Greyling’s staff the trio were handed four years’ imprisonment, of which three years are suspended for a period of five years.  These two sentences will run concurrently.
They were sentenced to a further five years for kidnapping Ms Greyling (51).

ALSO READ: Bound and gagged for 10 awful hours

On Friday, May 3 Ms Greyling, an avid bee keeper, spent some 10 hours bound and gagged in the boot of a car after being abducted at gunpoint in Umzumbe. She was later released unharmed.

William Hardy from Moors and Dlamini Attorneys, representing Grobbelaar and Breedt, explained that his clients had fallen on extremely hard times, even resorting to fishing in order to feed their families.

The court heard how Grobbelaar and Breedt had agreed to move their families into a shared house in Manaba in January this year. The two men had been seeking work since then, with little or no success.

Reading from the plea agreement, Mr Hardy said the men had approached a person known to them, asking for work, in early April. The business owner said he could not employ them, but had other ways they could make money. The court heard he had previously suggested that they should kidnap a person for ransom, and they asked him if this was still an option.

The man supplied a list of names of people he believed were wealthy, SIM cards for their phones and cash for expenses. According to the plea agreement, they met with the man several times during the planning stages, and at least once after the actual kidnapping. It was agreed between themselves and the man that they would kidnap Ms Greyling in order to secure a ransom, and a timeline was agreed.

Mr Hardy said that both parties felt they had no choice but to go along with the plan. However, Breedt and Grobbelaar had attempted to call off the plan on Wednesday, May 1 at a meeting with the man. The man became irate and threatened them.

The court heard that they had contacted Ms Greyling telephonically and had lured her to a rural area in Fairview Mission on the pretense that there were bees to be removed. After Ms Greyling arrived, the men asked her and her workers to follow them until they reached a quiet, hidden spot. When they alighted from the vehicle, the men produced a gas gun, a knife and a large spanner before binding Ms Greyling and her workers’ hands and covering their heads with bags. Ms Greyling was forced into the boot of their car.

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The workers were instructed to get into Ms Greyling’s vehicle upon which they were driven a nearby road. They were released, and left with the vehicle and keys.

Ms Greyling was driven to a safe house, and the kidnappers alerted the business owner that he could make the ransom call. However, they were soon overcome with remorse and it was decided she would be released. Grobbelaar and Mnguni took her to the home of a friend in Southport, and told the friend what they had done. He waited there until the police arrived. Breedt handed himself in at Margate police station the following day.

Mnguni’s statement, read by Legal Aid attorney Hlengiwe Mkabela, stated that he was approached by both Grobbelaar and Breedt who asked to use his garage to store something in return for a large sum of money. Breedt and Grobbelaar later informed him they wanted to kidnap someone for ransom, and he confessed to joining them in the kidnapping. Mnguni was arrested on the day of the kidnapping.

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