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3 women jammed into boot
28/02/2007 16:17 - (SA)
Nkosana ka Makaula and Oris Mnisi
Bushbuckridge - Three men accused of hijacking the wife of Pan Africanist Congress vice-president Themba Godi and two other women appeared in court this week.
The suspects aged 19, 20, and 28 - face charges of armed robbery.
They were not asked to plead during a brief appearance in Mhala regional court in Bushbuckridge on Monday and are due to appear again next Monday.
The two older suspects were released on bail of R1 000 and R2 000 respectively, but the 19-year-old was remanded because he could not afford bail.
A warrant was issued for a fourth suspect who failed to appear in court on Monday.
According to the charge sheet, four men hijacked Patricia Godi, 40, Ntsako Mathumbu, 19, and Maggie Khosa, 57, in Dwarsloop, Bushbuckridge, on October 14 2005.
The men, who were standing next to a Ford Bantam bakkie, flagged down Godi's car.
One of them said they had a puncture and asked Godi, who works as a teacher at a local high school, to lend them her spare wheel and to fetch petrol for them from a local garage.
Then the men suddenly drew firearms and ordered the women to get out of the car.
The three women were then locked into the boot of Godi's car while the suspects went on a drinking spree in Bushbuckridge for about three hours.
Later, two men guarded Mathumbu and Khosa while the other two forced Godi to take them to her home and hand over her bank cards.
Locked in boot again
The men also emptied her fridge, before forcing her to withdraw R2 700 at an ATM in Bushbuckridge.
The suspects then joined their accomplices and locked all three women in the boot of Godi's car again, before dropping them off in a deserted area near Marite.
The women walked home that night and Godi's car was later found abandoned in Marite.
Three suspects were arrested a week later while a fourth was taken into custody in December 2006.
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