Sibongiseni Ngubane, 35, and Thabani Gwala, 32, were sentenced to life in prison by the North West High Court sitting in Mogwase on Thursday for the August 2023 murder of Ben Gumbi.
Gumbi, then aged 49, was shot outside a coffee shop in the Rustenburg CBD. The suspects fled the scene in a car found abandoned a few blocks away.
Police spokesperson Brig Sabata Mokgwabone said a multidisciplinary team, which was established after the incident, arrested Ngubane and Gwala in Germiston and Hillbrow, Gauteng, in September and November 2023.
Mokgwabone said: “Prosecutor advocate Dibuseng Ntsala said Mr Gumbi’s life was taken in the most brutal way by the two accused when they shot him in cold blood and full sight of everyone on that morning. Ntsala requested that the minimum sentence of life be imposed on the accused.”
The two were sentenced as follows:
- Murder - life imprisonment.
- Possession of a firearm - 15 years’ imprisonment to run concurrently with the murder sentence.
Ngubane and Gwala were declared unfit to possess firearms.
They were found not guilty of conspiracy to commit murder.
A third suspect is expected to appear in the Rustenburg magistrate’s court today after being arrested in Port Shepstone, KwaZulu-Natal, on Wednesday.
TimesLIVE
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