Two men were found guilty in the East London High Court on Monday for their part in a brazen robbery in which a securty guard and a woman was shot when armed men stormed the Southerwood Spar at Malcomess Park last year, writes Thanduxolo Jika.
Luzuko “Luciano” Level 25 and Sinaye Pitsha, 29, were convicted on charges of attempted murder, robbery and illegal possession of guns after being arrested for the robbery, which happened on April 2 last year.
“In the present case there is no doubt that the robbery by the two accused and their group was a planned one,” said Justice Phakamisa Tshiki in his 55-page judgement.
“It is no coincidence that the two accused and others simply went to Southernwood Spar and decided to rob AJS security (on the spur of the moment,)” the judge said.
The shooting happened when men in a bakkie stormed an AJS cash-in-transit van, fired random shots and made their getaway, shooting at police with R5 automatic rifles.
The trial however, saw seven original accused dwindle to only two after the State dropped the charges against the other men and they were acquitted.
Earlier this year, the State’s case suffered a knock when a state witness was declared “hostile” by State prosecutor Sharon Hendricks when he gave contradicting evidence.
In his judgment, Justice Tshiki said he had no doubt the two men were part of a group who planned the robbery.
“I am satisfied that the state has succeeded in proving its case against the two accused,” the Judge said.
Read the full story in Tuesday’s print or online edition of the Daily Dispatch.
5 Comments Already, Leave Yours Too
I am so glad that at least two of them will be off the streets for a while at least. However, I sometimes feel that criminals are like cockroaches. You kill one (lock the criminal away) and about a hundred more come to the funeral and decide to stay. Are we ever going to win the war against crime, especially for the sake of our little ones, like my son who witnessed the security guard being shot here?
The problem, TJ, is that we have grown far too accustomed to treating crime as a war. Even wars have rules, including what constitutes a legitimate target, what constitutes a war crime and how you treat captured enemy combatants. This is why we have all the bleeding hearts that look for mitigating circumstances and why criminals are perceived as having more rights than their victims.
It’s time to treat crime as a disease. We start with sensible, healthy (i.e. law-abiding) living and supplement it with emphasising that law-breakers are not “heroes’, but a menace to society. There are no victimless crimes.
And then, of course, we have the anti-biotics for those bacteria – I mean criminals – who don’t get the message.
There’s a lovely old Scottish proverb: Hang a thief when he’s young and he won’t steal when he’s old.
TJ.The war on crime will never be won.
I’m married and chose not to have children as I wouldn’t want them to live a life here.We have to accept it as life.
@Zip: that is so sad, but I totally hear you! I have an 8 month old daughter and have always wanted children – I would have 10 if I could, but the crime in this country terrifies me and now that I have my daughter I am even more paraniod and worry daily about what might cross her path in the future. Not just the crime, but the lack of discipline and the violance in schools scares me.
Stop the defeatist talk. Agreed the situation is unacceptable – I also live in East London. But the “battle” is won or lost in our minds. Criminals are winning because we let them. Refer three blogs up for my idea of a different take. I didn’t say it’s easy, but we, the ordinary people, are the ones who must make the difference.
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