A judge applauded cops and pension payout security guards for “being up to the challenge” of an assault by a gang of robbers.
|||Durban - A judge applauded Mid-Illovo police and pension payout security guards for “being up to the challenge” of an assault by a gang of brazen and callous robbers.
Pietermaritzburg High Court acting Judge Khosi Hadebe commended the police and security guards for their bravery and “co-ordinated reaction” on Wednesday while he sentenced two Umlazi men who had been part of a dramatic shoot-out and robbery at a Mid Illovo pension payout point in May 2008.
“These brave men and women find their lives at risk every day by marauding groups while carrying out their duties, while responding to the government’s mandate to provide communities with this crucial service,” the judge said.
She said it was clear the victims’ lives were not considered by their attackers. “One can simply say that it was not yet their time,” she said.
Judge Hadebe said the killing of police officers had become a “hobby” for criminals who she said were bent on turning South Africa into a crime capital.
Eric Malunga, 25, and Thami Msomi, 31, were convicted on charges of robbery, theft, attempted murder, assault, and unlawful possession of firearms.
The men were sentenced to effective prison terms of 34 and 33 years respectively.
She said they would not be eligible for parole until they had served 20 years each.
The men went on a crime spree across KwaZulu-Natal, beginning on March 12, 2008, when they robbed a couple, Willem and Melishea Herbst, and their son, Armand, at gunpoint. They took the family’s Kia car, four cellphones, a Maverick 12-bore shotgun, a .38 special revolver and cash, at their home in Sheffield Beach.
Msomi threatened to rape Melishea Herbst and infect her with HIV if the couple did not co-operate.
“This was a brazen act, where the accused used his HIV status to instil fear in his victims.”
The men stole a Mitsubishi Pajero from Princess Ngcobo on April 21, 2008, at Cato Square in Durban, and then, on May 3, they stole a Honda Ballade from Jeremy Holdcraft in Umhlanga Ridge.
On May 6, 2008, four security guards took money to Mid Illovo, where they met three employees of Cash Paymaster Services (CPS), who brought cash dispensing machines.
The robbers then arrived in stolen vehicles. They opened fire on the armoured vehicle and security guards, members of the public and the CPS employees, injuring one guard.
They robbed the injured guard of his radio, automatic rifle and ammunition. They also took the store security guard’s firearm.
They opened fire on Chris Kitz, who was in his bakkie outside the store. He fled into the nearby sugar cane. The robbers used Kitz’s bakkie to ram the fence around Jabulu Store.
They removed cash boxes from the armoured car and loaded it into their vehicles before speeding off with about R754 000.
Several pensioners were assaulted. One elderly victim was unconscious for a week and spent over a month in hospital.
Daily News