Three men, including a policeman, have been convicted of a spate of robberies at popular South Coast pubs.
|||Durban - Three men, including a policeman, have been convicted of a spate of robberies at popular South Coast pubs.
Constable Sibusiso Mazeka, 35, who was stationed at the Swartberg police station, and two accomplices, John Green-Thompson, 44, and Mduduzi Dlamini, 28, were found guilty in the Pietermaritzburg High Court on Wednesday of various charges relating to armed robberies at the Swartberg police station as well as several South Coast pubs between November 2009 and February 2010. They were also found guilty of possession of unlicensed firearms.
A fourth accused, Zenzele Gumede, 28, was acquitted on all the charges.
Judge Achmat Jappie found there was insufficient evidence to convict Gumede beyond reasonable doubt. “While there is a strong suspicion that Gumede was involved in the robberies, due to his close association with the other accused, there is no physical evidence to conclusively prove his role in the crimes,” Judge Jappie said.
However, the Judge concluded that the evidence against the other three was “overwhelming”, with cellphone records placing the three at the particular pubs at the specific times that they were robbed, as well as the three being in communication with each other at those times, and police finding them in possession of property stolen during the robberies.
The gang targeted the Swartberg police station on November 29, 2009. On that day, Mazeka had called in sick. He and his accomplices went to the station where they held up the officer on duty at gunpoint, handcuffed him and stole his service pistol. They ransacked the safe and stole firearms.
The gang then went on a crime spree, targeting pubs on the South Coast. On January 30, 2010, the gang went to the Pit Stop pub in Margate where they threatened patrons and owners at gunpoint, tied them up and robbed them of their cellphones, wallets, cash, jewellery, liquor, laptops and a Toyota Hilux. On February 13, 2010, they struck at the Poison Apple pub, and four days later the Cove Pub in Uvongo.
The next day they targeted Broomers Pub and Grill in Margate, where they again threatened and robbed patrons at gunpoint.
The four men were arrested in late February 2010, after they were pulled over by police. Police found three stolen firearms, two of which were SAPS-issued, concealed in the boot of the car.
Argument in mitigation and aggravation of sentence will be heard today.
Daily News