30-year sentences for four Gauteng CIT robbers

Four men were sentenced to effective 30-year sentences on Thursday for a cash-in-transit robbery in 2020.

According to the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (Hawks), an SBV armoured vehicle was traveling on the N4 to Bronkhorstspruit, Gauteng, on January 7 2020 when a vehicle with a group of armed men rammed onto the cash van, pushing it off the road.

The gunmen forced the security guards out of the vehicle and robbed them of their service firearms.

They placed explosives onto the vehicle and detonated them, then removed the cash and fled from the scene. 

A case was opened at the Bronkhorstspruit police station which prompted an investigation by the Germiston-based Hawks’ Serious Organised Crime Investigation unit.

The investigation led to the arrest of Henrico Fourie, 39, Josiah Lucas Maseko, 48, Morris Fanie Mbuyani, 30, and Lazarus Ntlatleng, 28.

According to police, the accused were taken to court to faces charges of robbery with aggravating circumstances, contravention of the Explosives Act, conspiracy to commit a crime, illegal possession of firearms and illegal possession of ammunition.

They were found guilty on all the charges.

The North Gauteng High Court sentenced the accused to 25 years for robbery, 10 years for contravention of the Explosives Act, five years for conspiracy to commit crime, 15 years for illegal possession of firearms and five years for illegal possession of ammunition. 

The sentence for explosives, firearms and ammunition will run concurrently.

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