The Pretoria High Court convicted five criminals, among them former SBV workers, to 30 years in jail for a cash-in-transit crime that took place in January 2020.
For stealing an SBV cash-in-transit van of R25 million, Henrico Fourie, 39, Fannie Morris Mbuyani, 30, Jasias Lucas Maseko, 48, and Lazarus Ntlatleng, 28, received a 30-year straight jail term.
Judge Bert Bam sent down the sentence after finding the defendants guilty of robbery with aggravating circumstances, creating an explosion, conspiring to conduct an offense, possessing an illegal firearm, and possessing an illegal quantity of ammunition.
According to Lumka Mahanjana, a spokesman for the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA), the Pretoria High Court further mandated that the accused “compensate SBV for the loss.”
Bekithemba One of the suspected thieves, Patrick Mbanjwa, was out on bond and skipped court on the day of the verdict. He now has an arrest warrant out for him.
After turning into state witness, David Tolo, a driver who was connected with the accused, was granted immunity from prosecution.
It was discovered that Henrico Fourie, the head of the SBV logistics department at the Watloo Cash Centre, recruited and planned with Ntlatleng and Tolo, two other SBV workers, to loot SBV truck No. B157 along the N4 highway at Bronkhorspruit as the cash van traveled to Pretoria.
“Their first attempt was on 27 December 2019 but failed as they were no explosives, their second attempt was on 3 January 2020, but failed as there were no vehicles to ram the SBV truck and visibility of police on the N4 freeway. They only succeeded on the 3rd attempt, on 7 January 2020,” said the NPA spokesperson.
On January 7, the SBV van was rammed off the road by a Mercedes-Benz car. The accused opened fire as the van stopped, and Tolo and Ntlatleng were instructed to get out.
The accused stole more than R25 million from the safe and distributed it among themselves after using explosives.
“In court, all robbers pleaded not guilty to the charges preferred against them,” said Mahanjana.
Given that cash-in-transit thefts are fairly common in South Africa, state prosecutor Advocate Molahlwa Mashuga urged the judge to give a serious sentence that would “send a clear message.” Additionally, he emphasized that the inside job was planned and three of the accused were SBV employees.