By Noelene Barbeau
Mother and daughter Octavia and Sthembile Jingela, who hired two men to assault and rob teachers at Gillitts Primary School, have been found guilty of robbery with aggravating circumstances.
Two teachers and a clerk at the school were attacked and robbed in front of a class of 22 terrified pupils on November 16, 2006.
The two men responsible for the attack, Bongumusa Ntombela and Siyabonga Ntuli, who were both 17 at the time, pleaded guilty in September last year and testified in April at the Pinetown regional court in the Jingelas' trial.
They said Octavia, who worked as a cleaner at the school, had promised to pay them R10 000 for the assault and said the principal, Bhanprakash Vasdev, would provide the money.
Continues Below ↓
They said they had waited with Octavia's daughter, Sthembile, at a nearby shop until Octavia told them exactly where teachers Sharon Govender and Shanti Naidoo and the clerk, Amra Reddy, were.
Sthembile, an ex-pupil at the school, provided them with knives. The men went into the classroom, assaulted the teachers and stole their possessions.
The mother and daughter were this week convicted of robbery with aggravating circumstances and conspiracy to commit robbery. Octavia remains in custody, while Sthembile is on bail.
The matter has been adjourned until July when the magistrate will review reports from correctional and social services before sentencing the two women.
In his judgment, Magistrate Prithi Bodha described how Octavia once had had a good relationship with the two teachers and clerk.
He said Govender, Naidoo and Reddy complained in writing to the department of education about certain irregularities at the school.
At a school meeting in 2006, a department superintendent distributed copies of these allegations, including those levelled against Octavia and Vasdev, to all teachers at the school, as well as Octavia.
Continues...
|
StumbleUpon
Reddit
Digg
Delicious
Newsvine
Facebook
muti
Twitter
