Bongani William Nkosi has been given a hefty sentence of 60 years in prison for three house robberies that he committed.
The 27-year-old from Old Coronation was charged with house robbery, possession of house breaking implements, attempted murder and possession of an unlicensed firearm and ammunition. On June 16, 2016 Nkosi with another suspect went into a house in Extension 8, Klarinet where they found the complainant outside smoking. Nkosi was armed and he was wearing a black balaclava while the second suspect was wearing a blue balaclava.
It was around 22:10 when the victim was told to hand over everything he had in his possession to which he replied that the only thing he had was the cigarette he was smoking.
Nkosi and the other suspect pushed the complainant inside the house. Inside the house were the victim’s sister who was in the bedroom and his brother-in-law who was seated on the couch in the lounge watching TV.
Nkosi threatened the complainant with a gun and the two suspects instructed the complainant to sit at the couch, the victim sat on top of his sister’s laptop so the thieves could not see it. The suspects robbed them of their two cell phones, a Blackberry and a Samsung tablet.
Nkosi shot at the brother-in-law which led to Nkosi and the brother-in-law fighting for the gun. During this time the complainant went outside and came back with a gas cylinder which he used to knock out Nkosi.
The second suspect ran away and took the two cell phones and 20 Peter Stuyvesant cigarettes. The complainant and this brother-in-law picked up the firearm and started to search Nkosi. He had housebreaking implements including a crowbar, side cutter, screwdriver and two knives.
Community members came to assist, police arrived on scene and Nkosi was taken to the police station.
In this case Nkosi was sentenced to 25 years in prison. With the investigations the Witbank Trio-Task team conducted it was discovered that the 27-year-old was involved in two other house robbery cases that took place in Klarinet as well.
The one robbery was in March 27 2016 in Extension 6 at 23:00. In this case Nkosi was found guilty of house robbery and sentenced to 20 years in prison.
The other house robbery Nkosi committed was on May 6, 2016 at Extension 5. On this charge he was sentenced to 15 years in prison.
Sentencing took place at Witbank Regional Court on Thursday, November 16. All in all Nkosi will spend 60 years in prison.
In 2016 Klarinet was found to be the hotspot for house robberies.
“Be warned, do not think you can commit a crime and get away with it. You will be arrested and you will get a heavy sentence. As a community member, should you find yourself in a similar incident, scream in order to get help from the neighbours. If there is a suspect in the house as seen in the first incident, community members can be able to assist you keep the suspect in the house until police arrive. Try to remain calm during this tragic moment. We thank everyone that made these arrests possible,” said Cluster Commander, Major General Wilson Kekana.
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