LEVUBU – Two suspected robbers’ confidence in their abilities to get away with their violent crimes in the Levubu area was misplaced when they were arrested shortly after allegedly committing a house robbery at a farm in Levubu on the Beaufort road last Saturday.
According Levubu police spokesperson, WO Solly Mukhola, Cora Schoeman, who resides at the farm, was robbed at gunpoint of some R12 000. No one was injured in the robbery.
Just hours after their getaway from the Schoeman farm, Maxwell Sonti Matamela (24) and Gezani Maswanganyi (25) were arrested in Mashau village near Levubu.
During the arrests, the police also recovered two firearms and a total of around R23 000.
The two firearms, a revolver and a shotgun, were allegedly used in the Schoeman robbery to threaten her.
However, due to the two suspects allegedly being in possession of the two firearms, they were linked to another robbery, also on a farm on the same road, which took place on July 27.
Provincial police spokesperson, Col Ronél Otto, confirmed that it was suspected that the recovered firearms were items that were stolen from Jan Bonnema’s house on his farm when he was robbed.
Jan (62) noticed two suspicious men at the farm gate who were running towards the house.
The elderly Bonnema couple, Jan and his wife, Elise (61) just had enough time to each grab a firearm to try to protect themselves before the two men forced entry into their home by means of a sliding door. Both men had balaclavas over their heads and were armed with pangas.
According to the Bonnema’s daughter, Madeleen van den Berg, the attackers threatened her parents with the pangas in order to gain possession of the two firearms. She said the robbers viciously beat her parents over their heads. Van den Berg said her parents valiantly fought back and at one stage managed to disarm the two men when her father grabbed a dining room chair and hit the weapons out of the men’s hands, while her mother kicked the panga out of their reach and took possession of the revolver again. However, in the scuffle that ensued, the robbers were able to regain possession of the firearms, as well as an undisclosed amount of money, before they fled.
Van den Berg said her parents were relieved that their firearms had been recovered. “They will sleep better at night knowing that the two criminals are not on the run anymore,” she said, after being informed of their arrests.
Manamela and Maswanganyi appeared briefly before the Levubu periodical court on Monday and will remain in custody until their next appearance, which will be before the Louis Trichardt magistrate’s court on Tuesday.
Otto said the possibility that the two suspects were involved in other crimes committed in the area was being investigated and had not yet been ruled out.
