Sentencing brings closure
The two had to wait for almost a year to hear their fate after the Gauteng High Court in 2019 convicted them on two counts of assault, two counts of kidnapping and two of assault with intent to cause grievous bodily harm.
The recent five-year sentence imposed on the former head of National Crime Intelligence and former head of the Vosloorus SAPS Crime Detectives, Richard Mdluli, and his former colleague, Mthembeni Mthunzi, brings to an end a 20-year-old crime saga that has been the proverbial albatross on the necks of the two former police officers.
The two had to wait for almost a year to hear their fate after the Gauteng High Court in 2019 convicted them on two counts of assault, two counts of kidnapping and two of assault with intent to cause grievous bodily harm.
Before passing the five-year jail term, Judge Ratha Mokgoathleng dismissed their plea for leniency.
“We are dealing with two senior policemen who abrogated to themselves powers which police have. These powers were abused to such an extent that the only appropriate sentence in the circumstances is a custodial sentence,” Mokgoatlheng said.
Mdluli and Mthunzi were in 2019 each convicted on two counts of assault of Tshidi Buthelezi, who was Mdluli’s girlfriend, and her boyfriend, Oupa Ramogibe, in 1998. The two were later found guilty of kidnapping and assault with intent to commit grievous bodily harm.
Mdluli has told reporters he will appeal the sentence.
