Four life terms for robbers who killed guards and two others

Gauteng’s top cop has welcomed the multiple life sentences imposed on two convicted murderers who had hijacked a truck. They were found guilty of killing two guards and for the deaths of two of their accomplices.

The high court in Johannesburg on Thursday sentenced Phelani Ndlovu and Julius Nyamisani to four terms of life imprisonment.

The murder of the two guards and the robbers’ accomplices followed a shootout with the police in 2015.

“In July 2015‚ a truck was transporting cell phones from OR Tambo International Airport to Selby in Johannesburg‚” police spokesperson Brigadier Mathapelo Peters said. “The truck and its escort vehicle were hijacked in Johannesburg along the Rissik off-ramp by a group of armed men.”

She said a neighbour spotted the suspects off-loading boxes at a house in The Hill in Johannesburg south and alerted the community policing forum and the police.

“Two responding security guards were shot and killed as they entered the gate to the said house and their firearms stolen‚ while two police officers were also disarmed by the suspects and their unmarked vehicle keys taken from them.”

Peters said two of the four suspects were then shot dead during a shootout with the police and Ndlovu and Nyamisani were arrested and taken into custody.

Ndlovu and Nyamisani were charged with the murder of their accomplices in terms of common purpose‚ a doctrine that attributes criminal liability to the participants in a criminal enterprise for all that results from the enterprise.

The trial began in the high court in April this year‚ and ended with the sentencing on Thursday.

Gauteng police commissioner Lieutenant-General Deliwe de Lange congratulated the provincial team of investigators‚ and thanked them for the three years of dedication and diligence on this case.

“The quality of investigation behind these multiple life sentences will go a long way [to] restoring public confidence‚ as well as [in] bringing closure to the families of the victims‚” De Lange said.