Khangelani Mtyida (42) was sentenced to nine (9) years direct imprisonment by the East London Regional Court on Friday, 19 July 2024, for armed robbery and kidnapping. Whilst his co-accused Siyabonga Hesewu (40) passed on during the court proceedings.
On 21 October 2014 at approximately 10:40, a sales representative from British American Tobacco was delivering cartons of cigarettes to various spaza shops at Duncan Village area in East London. During the time, the victim was returning from a client, when two unidentified suspects accosted him pointed the victim with firearm. Subsequently, the victim was forced into his delivery vehicle at the back and took him to unknown location. Furthermore, the victim was robbed of his cellphone. Consequently, the accused offloaded cigarettes boxes to the value of over R15 000 into an unknown vehicle. After, all the suspects fled the scene leaving the victim at the back of the delivery vehicle.
Thorough comprehensive investigations by the Hawks led to the arrest of the suspects on 17 February 2015.
The accused made their first court appearance before the East London Magistrates on 19 February 2015 and they were in custody for a longer period. Their bail was denied and the accused further lodged an appeal through Grahamstown High court where they were released on bail in 2021.
Following their arrest, Mtyida made a series of court appearances until he was convicted and sentenced by the East London Regional Court on 19 July 2024.
Mtyida was sentenced as follows:
Count one (1) robbery with aggravated circumstances to nine (9) years direct imprisonment.
Count two (2) kidnapping to undergo four (4) years direct imprisonment. In addition, count two (2) will run concurrently with count one (1).
Eastern Cape Provincial Head of the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation, Major General Mboiki Obed, has welcomed the sentencing and commended the investigators who worked on the case.
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