56 years in prison for KZN man charged with murder and robbery
Sboniso Msomi, aged 33, was also charged with murdering his criminal associate and co-accused.
DURBAN, May 28 (ANA) – The Pinetown Regional Court has sentenced a KwaZulu-Natal man to 56 years in prison for a series of crimes he committed in the Durban area.
Sboniso Msomi, aged 33, who made several court appearances, was also charged with murdering his criminal associate and co-accused, police said in a statement on Friday. In all, he faced charges of burglary, robbery, murder and attempted murder.
A water-tight case presented to the court by the investigating officer from eThekwini district aided the state in a successful prosecution, KZN police spokesperson Colonel Thembeka Mbele said.
The charges emanated from a series of crimes that Msomi and his now dead accomplice were involved in, in the Kloof, Wyebank and Pinetown areas, Mbele said.
In February 2018, six males broke into houses in Pinetown and robbed the occupants of television sets, cash, jewellery, laptops, cellphones and other belongings before fleeing the scene in a getaway vehicle.
“The police were immediately alerted and the suspect’s vehicle was spotted travelling along the M13 in Fields Hill. The police officers from the K9 Unit tried to intercept the said vehicle but they were met by a hail of bullets,” Mbele said.
During a shootout between the six suspects and police, five men were fatally wounded while one survived with injuries. Three illegal firearms and ammunition were found inside the suspect’s vehicle, which had been stolen in Wyebank.
Mbele said the stolen property was positively identified and returned to its owners.
– African News Agency (ANA), Editing by Stella Mapenzauswa