Yanga Jenete (32) and Ntando Ntobongwana (30) were each sentenced on Monday 13 January 2020, at the East London Regional court in East London to 12 years direct imprisonment for robbery with aggravating circumstances and five-years imprisonment for kidnapping.
Between August 2013 and April 2014 Jenete and Ntobongwana executed six armed robberies in the Mdantsane and King Williams Town areas.
They targeted British American Tobacco (BAT) delivery vehicles which were on route to delivering cigarettes at spaza shops. The two men would threaten the driver at gunpoint, lock him inside the back of the BAT van and flee the scene with the boxes of cigarettes in a getaway vehicle.
Jenete and Ntobongwana fled with a total of 48 boxes of cigarettes during these robberies.
The Serious Organised Crime Investigation wing of the Hawks conducted a thorough investigation and as a result arrested Jenete and Ntobongwana during March 2015 in Cape Town.
Jenete was sentenced to a total of 48 years for four counts of robbery with aggravating circumstances. He was sentenced to 12 years imprisonment for each count, however, the sentences will run concurrently meaning that he will serve 12 years direct imprisonment. His sentence of five years imprisonment for kidnapping will run concurrently with the 12 years.
Ntobongwana on the other hand was sentenced to a total of 60 years for five counts of robbery with aggravating circumstances. The sentences will also run concurrently meaning that he will likewise serve 12 years direct imprisonment.
Similar to Jenete’s case Ntobongwana’s five year prison sentence for kidnapping will run concurrently with the 12 years.
South Africa Today – South Africa News
