Durban - Two men who pleaded guilty to robbing British American Tobacco South Africa (BAT) drivers and stealing their stock have received a total sentence of over 400 years collectively.
Enock Richotso pleaded guilty to 12 counts of robbery with aggravating circumstances and 12 counts of kidnapping in the Durban Regional Court this week.
His co-accused Rodwell Rooi Ndondo pleaded guilty to 9 counts of robbery and 9 counts of kidnapping.
They received 15 years on each count of robbery and six years of each count of kidnapping.
While the total sentence for the pair is over 400 years in prison, they will each serve an effective 21 years in jail.
The men pleaded guilty to committing various robberies between between April 2015 and August 2016 in areas like Pietermaritzburg, Tongaat, Umkomaas among others.
They were arrested in 2016 by Detective Warrant Officer Rajen Nagesar and Praved Maharaj from the Provincial Organised Task Team.
In his guilty plea Rikhotso said during the robberies he and Ndondo had approached the complainants and forced them into the back of their vehicles at gunpoint.
"The vehicle was then driven by me or my co-accused to an abandoned spot where other accomplices would arrive with another motor vehicle."
Rikhotso said they would load the boxes of cigarettes into the other car and leave the victims behind in the BAT vehicle.
He further admitted that DNA evidence of bubblegum which he had taken out of his mouth and placed on the camera inside the vehicle had linked him to the crime.
State Prosecutor Surekha Marimuthu in her address said robberies of BAT vehicle was increasingly prevalent and the courts needed to send a strong message to would-be offenders.