Red Cross Hospital technician forfeits car used in Eastern Cape robbery and kidnapping

12 June 2020 - 06:35 By PHILANI NOMBEMBE
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Cape Town technician Nqaba Mpahlwa has forfeited his Golf 4 to the state after it was used in a robbery and kidnapping.
Cape Town technician Nqaba Mpahlwa has forfeited his Golf 4 to the state after it was used in a robbery and kidnapping.
Image: Thinkstock

A Cape Town technician whose car was used in a robbery and kidnapping in the Eastern Cape has forfeited his vehicle to the state.

The prosecution won the legal battle in the high court in Mthatha this week. Now the state is set to sell Nqaba Mpahlwa’s Golf 4 – which he said was worth R65,000 – and replenish its criminal assets recovery account at the Reserve Bank.  

But the ride – in the car – that eventually led to the court’s decision is hair-raising.

According to the judgment, it all started in March 2017 when two Ugandan nationals, Jonathan Sekyanzi and Senyomo Juma, were hijacked at gunpoint between Dutywa and Willowvale in broad daylight. The two Butterworth-based welders were approaching a junction when the Golf 4 “appeared and made straight for” their car, a Honda.

“It stopped, causing the Honda to stop,” the judgment reads.

“Two men bearing firearms alighted from the Golf. They forced Sekyanzi and Juma at gunpoint to get out of the Honda and into its boot. The two armed men then drove both vehicles to a spot near the Thaleni road bridge, where the vehicles were brought to a standstill and the armed men again alighted.

“The armed men opened the boot of the Honda and took Sekyanzi and Juma out. They stripped them of their clothing and used cable ties to cuff their hands tightly. They took them to the forest near the bridge.

“There they assaulted them by kicking them and hitting them with their fists and firearms. They demanded money from Sekyanzi and Juma. One of the armed men fired a shot with his firearm very close to Juma’s ear, causing Juma to lose the ability to hear in that ear.”

According to the judgment, the armed men stole Sekyanzi and Juma’s wallets and removed cash and bank cards from them.

“They demanded details of the personal identification numbers applicable to their victims’ bank accounts. They also stole the victims’ cellular telephones and made telephonic contact with a friend of the victims, whose details were given to them by the two, demanding that he make deposits of money into their bank accounts.

“The attempt to obtain money was unsuccessful and the armed men forced Sekyanzi and Juma back into the boot of the Honda and drove both vehicles towards Willowvale.”

Traffic officer Aphelele Apleni was doing routine vehicle licence checks in the small town when he saw a black Honda approaching at high speed. He tried to stop it but it sped away.

“As it did so, Apleni heard the sound of a person banging on the lid of the boot and screaming loudly from inside the boot, calling for help,” reads the judgment.

“Apleni requested a colleague who was on duty with him to phone the police using his cellular telephone. Apleni gave chase to the Honda on foot. He came upon it abandoned near the store known as Msengane Build-Rite. Sekyanzi and Juma had somehow managed to get out of the boot and had been helped by nearby shop owners. At that point, members of the SA Police Services arrived. Apleni accompanied Sekyanzi and Juma to the police station.”

Apleni then accompanied Sekyanzi and Juma to a nearby village where they identified Mpahlwa’s car. Police went to the home where the vehicle was found and interviewed Mpahlwa’s aunt who said he had brought the vehicle the previous day.

“He [Mpahlwa] was followed by a second motor vehicle which also stopped. She said that he told her that he was leaving his motor vehicle there, outside her yard. She did not ask him why, because she ‘knew him’”, the judgment reads.

“He locked his motor vehicle and climbed into the second motor vehicle which then drove away. The police then recovered the respondent’s motor vehicle and towed it to the Willowvale police station.”

Mpahlwa had reported that he had been robbed of his car but he was in possession of his key. The police found eight cellphones and a tablet in the car.

Sekyanzi and Juma identified the cellphones as some of the property that they had been robbed of.

According to the judgment, Mpahlwa “does not dispute that (his car) was used as an instrument to commit an offence, but disputes that he was in any way involved”. He said he had lent the car to a friend, Loyiso Mapekula, now deceased.

“Accordingly, he states that apart from the allegations made by members of the SA Police Services he has no knowledge of the property being used to commit the offences of robbery and kidnapping. He admits that he was charged with the offences but states that the charges were withdrawn on June 21 2018,” according to the judgment.

Mpahlwa, who works at the Red Cross Children’s Hospital, put up a fight in a bid to retain his wheels but he could not persuade the court.

“Upon an analysis of the factual averments set out in the affidavits filed of record the court is satisfied that the applicant has discharged the onus of establishing that the property was used as an instrumentality of the offences of kidnapping and robbery,” judge Richard Brooks said in the ruling.

“There are a significant number of detailed allegations made in the founding affidavit and its annexures which cannot be, and are not, denied in the answering affidavits and which establish unequivocally that the use of the property constituted a necessary and integral part of the commission of the offences of kidnapping and robbery on 22 March 2017.

“It was used to transport the perpetrators to the place where the Honda motor vehicle was intercepted. It was used to transport the occupants of the Honda motor vehicle against their will and to a place where they were robbed. At this stage of the proceedings, the respondent’s claim that he had no knowledge of the use of the property in the manner described in the applicant’s affidavits is irrelevant.

“The Golf 4 ... is hereby declared forfeited to the state.”

Mpahlwa was also slapped with the legal costs.



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