Twenty years for hijacking
ALEXANDRA - Hammanskraal and Midrand hijackers get heavy sentences.
Two men who were found guilty of two incidents of robbery, kidnapping and possession of an AK rifle and 25 rounds of ammunition were each sentenced to 20 years imprisonment by the Alex Magistrates’ Court.
Magistrate Renier Boshoff found Mbokweni Shilembe (36) and Misheck Shabangu (46) guilty of the crimes committed on 1 May and 4 May 2015 in Makapanstad, Hammanskraal and Midrand respectively.
The armed pair hijacked a VW Golf, kidnapped the owner of the vehicle in Makapanstad and later dumped her in a veld. Three days later while driving in the stolen Golf and a BMW, they held up the crew of a delivery truck at gunpoint, took hostage of and robbed them of a delivery truck containing cellphone parts in Midrand. The victims were forced into the two vehicles and also dropped off at secluded spots.
The police, who were alerted of the incident, tracked the vehicles and spotted the Golf. This resulted in a high-speed chase that ended when the vehicle lost control and hit a fence in Linbro Park. Shilembe was apprehended as he tried to flee on foot with the rifle. Shabangu was taken into custody after he was shot in the leg.
Read: Man nabbed in taxi minutes after armed robbery
