Hijackers' decoy gets 15 years
2004-10-13 19:47
Johannesburg - A pretty, 25-year-old single mother used as a decoy in a hijacking that led to the murder of a truck driver stood in shock in the dock in Johannesburg High Court on Wednesday as she was sentenced to 15 years' jail.
Judge Joop Labuschagne also handed down life sentences on three hijackers who boarded a truck carrying music equipment after Sophie Portia Mokoena, 25, of Vosloorus, had lured the driver to stop.
The three were Thembinkosi Ndlovu, 30, of Vosloorus, Patrick Gumbi, 25, of Vosloorus and Samuel Khosa, 31, of Benoni.
The men were found guilty of murder as well as the charge of aggravated robbery, on which Mokoena was convicted.
They had been hiding in bushes nearby, waiting for the vehicle to stop for Mokoena.
On December 4 2001, the four caused the truck and trailer to run off the road near Somalia squatter camp at Dawn Park, Boksburg, colliding with a pink outside toilet.
Selling loot for drinking money
Police found the body of driver Rajendran Munisamy, employed by Nab Freight Services, inside the truck with a bullet wound to the brain.
His cellphone was missing and empty boxes were found next to the truck.
Police arrested Khosa the following day as he tried to sell two guitar cases for drinking money. Later, the other three were arrested.
Passing sentence, the judge concurred with prosecutor Jacqueline Fick that the crime was the "senseless killing of a defenceless man".
- SAPA