Camps Bay gang found guilty

It took only five men to terrorise residents of a posh Cape Town neighbourhood to such an extent that they cancelled book club meetings and were too afraid to visit friends at night. Some even fled the country.

That was until inhabitants of Camps Bay decided to join forces with the police to bring Luis Momadi, Arnaldo Faife, Rogerio Laice, Sabastine Okele and Thamsanqa Mafuya to book. The men were linked to more than 30 house robberies in the area in 2008.

"People were terrified all the time as the gang just became more violent," said Ian Merrington, chairman of the Camps Bay Watch.

On Friday, Cape Town High Court Judge James Yekiso found the men guilty on five counts of housebreaking. Momadi, who was referred to as the group's "commander", was also found guilty of rape.

Merrington said the prosecutor liaised with Camps Bay Watch and it was decided ''to only prosecute the most watertight cases".

During their reign of terror, the men - three of whom are from Mozambique and one from Nigeria - made off with valuables worth hundreds of thousands of rands. The gang struck only when the homes they targeted were occupied.

In his judgment, Judge Yekiso summarised the testimony of all the key witnesses, including that of Sandra van Staden, Frederick Woolley's girlfriend when he was attacked by the gang in 2008. Woolley shot and wounded the men and brought their reign of terror to an end. But he was so traumatised that he could no longer stay in his home and suffered attacks of anxiety. He died of a heart attack the next year.

Yekiso also reprised victim David Knott's testimony that, while ransacking his house, Faife had "walked around with a bottle of Jack Daniels in his left hand and a firearm in his right hand, waving the firearm around and threatening to shoot".

Yesterday, Momadi took the stand in mitigation of sentence, saying he had been drunk during some of the robberies. He apologised to his victims.