BETHAL – An armed robber who shot and almost killed a security guard in Bethal two years ago will effectively spend 10 years in jail.
The Bethal Regional Court meted out the sentence on Sandile Thabethe (28) yesterday, 6 October according to a plea bargain. He was found guilty of robbery with aggravating circumstances and for attempted murder.
Thabethe and an accomplice ambushed G4S security guards in front of the OK Grocer on 12 October 2018. The guards were collecting cash from at the complex in Vuyisile Mini Street at the time.
One of the guards was shot in the neck. Mr Michael Hodgson, Bethal CPF member and paramedic by trade, tended to the seriously wounded guard. He told Ridge Times on the day that the guard had lost a lot of blood.
According to Capt Dineo Sekgotodi, spokesman for the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation in Mpumalanga (Hawks) Thabethe and his accomplice then grabbed the trolley bag and fled the scene.
“Following a brief pursuit, the pair abandoned the trolley bag with the stolen money.”
The robbers fled the scene in a silver Golf, eyewitnesses claimed at the time.
The Hawks Serious Organised Crime Investigation arrested Thabethe four days later.
“Mfundo Muzi Mponfompi (30) was also apprehended on the 23 November 2018. The pair remained in custody and appeared before the court on several occasions after investigators successfully opposed their bail application,” said Capt Sekgotodi. Mpondombi’s case was postponed to 19 November for a legal representative.
The Provincial Head of the Hawks in Mpumalanga, Major General Zodwa Mokoena congratulated both the investigating and the prosecution teams for ensuring that the sentence meted out has effectively removed the convicted criminal for a long time.
