Vigilantes get 1 632 years
2006-02-22 15:45
Johannesburg - Twenty-four members of a vigilante group have been sentenced to a total of 1 632 years in jail by the Potchefstroom High Court, North West police said on Wednesday.
Superintendent Louis Jacobs said the vigilantes were convicted in February last year and sentenced on Tuesday for crimes including two murders, three attempted murders, three assaults, two robberies, one housebreaking and theft, and one case of damage to property.
Jacobs said the group started off as a community policing forum in Wedela township in 2002, but turned violent when it changed its name to Wedela crime busting forum.
An police launched in August 2002 led to the arrest of the 24 in Wedela, Carletonville and the Eastern Cape.
"The youngest in the group is 25 and the oldest 59," Jacobs said.
- SAPA