Experts testifies on Moyo
2013-03-20 14:30
Pretoria - A forensics expert testified in the North
Gauteng High Court in Pretoria on Wednesday for the aggravation of sentence in
the case against Zimbabwean duo Bongani Moyo and Khumbulani Sibanda.
Former policeman and member of FNB’s branch protection
and investigative unit, Andries Marthinus van der Linde, said he had analysed
video footage during bank robberies against photographs of the pair taken by
police after their arrest.
Moyo and Sibanda were in court on Wednesday for their
sentencing procedures.
The pair pleaded guilty on Monday to a raft of charges
including armed robbery and possession of firearms.
Van der Linde told the court he concluded that the
accused before the court were the people involved in the robberies.
“That man seen in the picture in a jacket is that accused
person sitting in this court in a blue shirt,” Van der Linde said, pointing at
Moyo.
He was reading from a bundle of documents presented to
the court as evidence.
He, however, said some of the perpetrators seen in the
videos working with Moyo and Sibanda were not in court.
The gang seen in the footage had a modus operandi similar
to the one Moyo and Sibanda had confessed to using.
A third person would always stand guard at the banks'
entrance, stopping patrons from leaving and entering while the robbery was in
progress.
Third person identified
Van der Linde said he could identify that third person as
Thabani Sibanda.
Moyo and Sibanda were initially charged together with
Leon Ncube and Thabani Sibanda.
Moyo and Khumbulani Sibanda entered a plea bargain deal
with the State.
They submitted sworn statements admitting to the 15
charges brought against them.
Ncube and Thabani Sibanda would go on trial on 12 August.
On Monday, the pair said they executed the robberies with
other people known only as Max, Nxo, and another unidentified man known only to
Max.
On Thursday, Van der Linde told the court that Thabani Sibanda
was part of the robberies.
The gang robbed branches of the country's major banks.
Moyo and Khumbulani Sibanda said that before committing
the crimes they watched the movements of customers at the banks and discussed
ways of escaping after the robberies.
The banks they robbed included the Roodepoort branch of
Absa, the FNB branch in Gezina and the Standard Bank in Hatfield, both in
Pretoria, and a Nedbank branch in Rustenburg.
The two said it was not their intention to kill anyone
and they had not shot at people.
They only used 9mm pistols to intimidate staff and
patrons in banks.
- SAPA
