NELSPRUIT – The mighty hand of the law came crashing down on two men who had committed a spree of armed robberies, kidnapping and the gruesome attempted murder on a young woman.
Robert Joe Maluleka (31) and Alberto Sithole (36) , both Mozambican citizens, were found guilty and sentenced to 60 years each on charges ranging from attempted murder, kidnapping, armed robbery, housebreaking and possession of stolen firearms and ammunition.
Both men had previous convictions and sentences they were serving of a similar nature. The men were responsible for a spree of housebreak-ins in the Nelspruit area during March 2007. The last being when they broke into the house of Ms Louise Hulley-Muller (26).
Muller had been alone that night with her four-month-old baby daughter and her two-and-half-year-old son. Magistrate Mr André Geldenhuys said in his handing down of sentencing , that Muller did call out to her assailants that she had a gun, but they proceeded to shoot her in the chest once which made her unable to reach her gun. He said once she was down on the floor, they shot her eight more times. “How she survived is a pure miracle. “
He said she then struggled the whole night to stay alive until daylight, when she pushed her toddler son out the window and asked him to fetch her father who lived a kilometre away.
The boy managed to fetch his grandfather, saying “Dalia come quickly, mommy’s got a big eina.”
Geldenhuys said the men just blatantly ransacked her house and left her for dead.
Prosecutor Ms Ansie Venter said she had been to a workshop last week where they revealed that 30 per cent of the crime committed in the country was by Mozambican citizens.
Geldenhuys reiterated this by stating he was sure it was much higher in the province due to its proximity to the border. “I have Mozambican citizens appearing daily in my courtroom for the most violent crimes from murder and rape to armed robberies. “
“It is shocking also to see how many illegal weapons the court hears about every day and sometimes where they get them from is not known.
“Venter added that Muller left South Africa for Tanzania right after the attack and refused to ever come back to the Country. “We hope she hears about the sentencing and it gives her closure.”
