A gang of robbers received a total of 185 years of jail time last week, in connection with the spate of armed robberies they conducted at various KwaZulu-Natal betting outlets over a six-month period in 2019.
Well-known betting venues in Umzinto, Pietermaritzburg, eManzimtoti, Chatsworth, KwaDukuza, Pinetown and uMlazi became targets, and it’s believed that the gang collectively netted more than R400 000 from the tills of the various outlets.
They also helped themselves to cell phones, cash and other valuables belonging to patrons who were present during the robberies, which usually happened near closing time in the evening.
Although each venue had CCTV cameras fitted, it was not a deterrent for the gang as they made no effort to hide their faces, which ultimately proved to be their undoing.
Facial identification techniques used by a police forensic investigator enabled the SAPS to link the gang members conclusively to the various robberies and this evidence ultimately provided acting regional court magistrate Ada van Vuuren with the basis to convict and sentence the five accused before her.
The trial was conducted in the Durban Regional Court and dealt with the more than 20 robbery with aggravating circumstances charges against the accused.
They pleaded not guilty to the charges.
Advocate Kuveshni Pillay represented the State.
Sphamandla Zuma, 25, was convicted on charges related to his involvement in the Pietermaritzburg robbery and received sentences totalling 30 years and is expected to serve 23 years of effective jail time, as Van Vuuren ordered that some of the sentences run concurrently.
Thabiso Gumede, 33, was believed to be the gang leader and is due to spend an effective 40 years behind bars after his collection of sentences tallied 75 years.
Gumede was found to be present at the robberies in Pietermaritzburg, KwaDukuza, Chatsworth, uMlazi and aManzimtoti.
For his involvement in Chatsworth, Mazwenkosi Mqadi, 29, received a 15 year sentence.
Sifiso Mhlongo, 23, who was present at the aManzimtoti, Umzinto, KwaDukuza and Chatsworth heists, received a cumulative 60 year sentence for those instances, but will serve 35 years of effective imprisonment.
Jerry Myboy Ngcobo, 24, was placed at the crime scenes in aManzimtoti and Umzinto. He received a total sentence of 30 years, of which 23 years will be effective incarceration.
Mvuyisi Japhet Dondi, 31, was the sixth member of the gang. Dondi made a confession to his involvement in the uMlazi robbery before magistrate Anand Maharaj in September 2021 and was sentenced to 10 years of imprisonment.
Acting on information they received, members of the SAPS’ Provincial Organised Crime Investigation Team, led by Warrant Officer Bob Pillay, were able to identify all six gang members through CCTV footage images and were arrested in the Inanda area.
They all lived in close proximity to each other.
The accused were also positively identified by some robbery victims at subsequent identity parades conducted by police.
Warrant officer Vanishree Abdul Rahim was the SAPS facial recognition techniques expert who did an analysis.
She testified in court how she was able to determine that the accused were the same individuals seen in different instances, in the CCTV footage captured at the betting outlets.
Rahim, who is based at the SAPS Local Criminal Record Centre (LCRC) in Durban and works in their “facial identification section”, has nearly 20 years of experience as a forensic artist in that unit, and has acquired various course certificates and tertiary qualifications in this field.
The CCTV footage received from the respective crime scenes were sent to the SAPS’ forensics sciences laboratory in Pretoria, where images of the accused were extracted and sent back to Rahim for analysis.
Rahim was able to do her analysis after images (control samples) of the accused were taken in court by LCRC photographers.
The accused were asked to pose in positions similar to that of the images extracted from the CCTV footage for the purpose of Rahim’s “morphological analysis”, which was suited for image to person and image to image comparisons.
Rahim was able to identify various “points of similarity” in each instance.
Lieutenant General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi, KZN’s provincial commissioner, appreciated the quality of the investigations and the solid evidence presented in the matter, which enabled the court to deliver hefty sentences.
“We applaud the investigating team for the thorough work done in connecting the dots and positively linking the suspects with the crime scenes. We also appreciate the courts for handing down hefty sentences to these brazen criminals,” he said.
SUNDAY TRIBUNE