Pretoria – The North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria has sentenced convicted robbers – Henrico Fourie, 39, Fannie Morris Mbuyani, 30, Jasias Lucus Maseko, 48 and Lazarus Ntlatleng, 28, to 30 years direct imprisonment each for robbing an SBV cash-in-transit vehicle of more than R25 million.
The court also ordered that the accused should jointly, and severally compensate SBV for the loss, according to Gauteng spokesperson for the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) Lumka Mahanjana.
“This is after Judge Bert Bam, convicted them of robbery with aggravation circumstances, causing an explosion, conspiracy to commit an offence, possession of an unlawful firearm and possession of unlawful ammunition.
“One of the alleged robbers Bekithemba Patrick Mbanjwa, who was out on bail did not appear in court on the day of judgment,” said Mahanjana.
A warrant of arrest has been issued for Mbanjwa.
Fourie, who was the head of department at SBV Logistics at the Watloo Cash Centre recruited and conspired with two other SBV employees, Ntlatleng who was a crew member and David Tolo, a driver, to rob the SBV truck no B157 on the N4 freeway outside Bronkhorspruit.
Tolo was granted indemnity from prosecution because he turned State witness.
The vehicle laden with money was on its way to Pretoria.
“Their first attempt was on December 27, 2019 but failed as there were no explosives, their second attempt was on January 3, 2020, but failed as there were no vehicles to ram the SBV truck with and the visibility of police on the N4 freeway.
“They only succeeded on the third attempt, on January 7, 2020,” said Mahanjana.
“A Mercedes Benz was used to ram the SBV truck off the road, and it stopped, whereupon the accused fired shots.
“Tolo and Ntlatleng were told to exit the truck, and explosives were used to cause an explosion.
“A value of more than R25m was taken from the safe and shared among each other.”
In court, all the accused men pleaded not guilty to the charges against them.
Prosecutor advocate Molahlwa Mashuga told the court that cash-in-transit robberies were serious and prevalent.
He submitted that the heist was planned and was an inside job because three of the robbers were employed by SBV.
Mashuga requested the judge to impose “a sentence that will send a strong message”.
Meanwhile, Gauteng Director of Public Prosecution, advocate Sibongile Mzinyathi has acknowledged the outstanding work done by prosecutor, Mashuga, “who took over the matter at short notice while the matter was already enrolled for trial, and the investigating team which led to the conviction and sentence”.
IOL