Johannesburg - A 29-year-old man was sentenced to 17 years imprisonment on Monday for possession of a hijacked motor vehicle and kidnapping by the Johannesburg Magistrate's Court, Gauteng police said.
Police spokesperson Captain Xoli Mbele said Mabutho Sithabiso Memela was sentenced to 15 years imprisonment for possession of a hijacked motor vehicle and two years for kidnapping.
"A 37-year-old male was driving a company Truck, a white Kia, on Maraisburg Road on his way to Soweto dumping side on the 14th of December 2017 at 14:30. A Black BMW and a white VW Kombi blocked his way; six suspects approached him, one with a firearm," Mbele said.
"One of the suspects used a wheel spanner to break a side window of the truck and pulled the driver out of a truck. He was taken with a VW Kombi blindfolded and tied with shoe lace; they left him at Bekkersdal. They took a company truck, his cellphone and one thousand rands cash."
Mbele said the suspect was arrested on the same day at about 6pm when the police received information about a truck that has been hijacked travelling at Xavier off-ramp. They spotted the vehicle and the driver travelling alone.