- The Gauteng High Court, sitting in Palm Ridge, has sentenced four people involved in the kidnapping of Amy'Leigh de Jager.
- The court handed them sentences that ranged from five to 10 years and the highest sentence imposed was for Grade RR teacher, Tharina Human.
- Amy'Leigh caught the nation's attention when she was kidnapped outside her school in September last year.
Four people found guilty of involvement in the kidnapping of Amy'Leigh de Jager in Vanderbijlpark in September last year have each received jail sentences of at least five years.
The four accused - Tharina Human, Laetitia Nel, Pieter Jacobus van Zyl and Bafokeng Molemohi - entered into plea and sentence agreements with the State in the Gauteng High Court, sitting in Palm Ridge, on Thursday.
They were convicted of kidnapping and attempted extortion.
Human, the 27-year-old Grade RR teacher said to be the mastermind, was sentenced to 10 years in prison and Van Zyl received an eight-year prison term.
Molemohi was sentenced to seven years behind bars and Nel received the shortest prison term of five years. Before proceedings started, Nel wept as she entered the courtroom.
News24 previously reported that four men snatched Amy'Leigh from her mother's car at Laerskool Kollegepark and drove off in a white Toyota Fortuner.
Police launched a manhunt while her distraught parents waited at the Vanderbijlpark police station for any news.
The kidnappers initially demanded R2 million for her release.
Amy'Leigh's kidnappers dropped her off, between 02:00 and 02:30, in a street close to The Shakespeare Inn in Vanderbijlpark on 3 September. A man and a woman took her to the police station where she was reunited with her parents.
Human, 27, was a close friend of the De Jager family. She was Amy'Leigh's younger brother's teacher.
She allegedly orchestrated the kidnapping to pay a debt to drug dealers, News24 previously reported.
