A 29-YEAR-OLD man was recently sentenced to 20 years in prison after he was found guilty of participating in two armed robberies, one of which took place in Warner Beach three years ago.
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Siphephelo Mtshali (29), who was an e-hailing service driver, was found by the Durban Regional Court to have used his taxi to ferry robbers to rob a Warner Beach TV repair shop on January 14, 2020. The court heard that while Mtshali waited in the getaway car, his accomplices held up staff at gunpoint and made off with R9 000 and two cellphones. The other robbery took place in Pinetown two days later using the same modus operandi. Magistrate Hein Visagie disputed Mtshali’s defence that he had been threatened and forced by the robbers to drive them around and was not involved in the crimes that were committed.
“His version is very improbable. I reject it. He participated in the offences and acted in common purpose with the others,” Visagie said.
Two days after the Pinetown robbery, Mtshali’s car was spotted in the Isipingo, and Mtshali was arrested after it matched the car seen on surveillance footage. He was found guilty on two counts of robbery with aggravating circumstances and one count of housebreaking after further evidence placed him at both crime scenes as a willing participant.
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