EUMAM MOZ strengthens awareness on human trafficking in armed conflict contexts
Two Mozambicans jailed for a total of 183 years in South Africa
7:50 CAT | 31 Mar 2016
Folha de Maputo
Two men convicted of a string of charges including robbery with aggravating circumstances and kidnapping, have been sentenced to a total of 183 years between the two of them.
North West police said in a statement on Monday that 34-year-old Americo Mathe and 35-year-old Wilson Chirindza committed serious crimes between November 2002 and April 2009 in Wilkoppies, Doringkruin, Flamwood, Stilfontein and Orkney.
Police arrested them in 2009 in Stilfontein near Klerskdorp in connection with a business robbery and they were subsequently linked to the other cases.
Police spokesperson Colonel Sabata Mokgwabone said Mathe escaped from Stilfontein holding cells after stabbing a police official. He was rearrested five months later.
Mathe faced six charges of robbery with aggravating circumstances, four charges of the illegal possession of firearms, six charges of burglary, theft, house robbery, theft out of a motor vehicle, two of kidnapping and escape from lawful custody.
Chirindza faced two counts of armed robbery and one of illegal possession of a firearm.
Mathe was sentenced to 158 years behind bars, while Chirinza received a 25 year prison term.
The two Mozambican nationals held their victims at gunpoint during two incidents, and kidnapped them in the Johannesburg and Vereeniging areas.
The North West Provincial Lieutenant General Baile Motswenyane praised the detectives involved in the case and said “the sentences will send a clear message to potential criminals that crime does not pay”.
Source: ANA
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