THE Pinetown Regional Court on Wednesday (September 9) dismissed the application by the four school robbery gang for leave to appeal their sentence.

Through their legal representative, Mthobisi Shozi, Brian Charles, Sbonelo Mkhulisi and Lebogang Magwaza, who were sentenced to 35 years behind bars each, submitted to the court that it had erred by not taking into account their detention since their arrest on February 28, 2023, and so by not handing them down a reduced term.

Related story: Pinetown school robbery gang seek to appeal sentence

The four’s legal representative submitted to the court that they were of the view that this detention amounted to substantial and compelling circumstances which the court should have considered so it would deviate from the prescribed minimum sentence of 15 years for the counts, which include robbery with aggravating circumstances, kidnapping, and attempted robbery.

The State prosecutor submitted that the court had been lenient considering that the sentences for the various counts run concurrently.

The prosecutor said if the court were to consider accused one, Shozi, as an example, if the sentences were not running concurrently, he could have effectively been sent to 245 years behind bars.

The prosecutor added that considering the violent manner of the crimes committed by the four and how they had carried themselves during trial, there was no way another court could come to a different conclusion but could possibly increase their sentence.

The detention the four sought the court to consider, submitted the Prosecutor, “would only account for a fraction” of their sentence.

Handing down his ruling on the application, Magistrate Muntu Khumalo said there was plenty of case law that points to that pre-trial detention does not on its own amount to substantial and compelling circumstances justifying a departure from a prescribed minimum sentence.

Also read: Mother severely impacted by murder of her ‘precious child’

“It may amount to substantial and compelling circumstances if accompanied by other factors,” said Khumalo.

The magistrate said the trial court, in handing down a sentence, has to consider that this is proportionate to the crime.

“This was one of the worse cases this court has ever dealt with, where teachers were visited with violence at a place they considered safe,” said Khumalo.

He added that in once instance, a teacher was “clobbered” with a firearm and bled almost to death.

“There was no reason why this violence had to be acted out when the accused were in a powerful position armed with guns,” said Khumalo.

The sentence that was handed down to the accused, said Khumalo, also served as a lesson to deter would be criminals and that the court had looked at all the factors when handing it down.

Khumalo said the order that the sentences run concurrently was so that the accused are not imprisoned for a lengthy term.

“The court is therefore of the view that there is no other court that can interfere with this sentence,” ruled Khumalo, dismissing the application.

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