[imagesource: Facebook/Munnik Jewellers]
Justice has been served for Worcester jeweller Charl Munnik who was senselessly murdered when a couple of robbers attacked his shop.
Four men came to Worcester to loot Charl and his mother Esme Munnik’s store on January 29, 2021, according to National Prosecuting Authority spokesperson Eric Ntabazalila, where they forcefully took their belongings and shot Charl with a semi-automatic firearm that killed him.
The robbery was captured on CCTV and the two assailants were seen wielding firearms,” the indictment reads. One of the men then “grabbed the female victim by the neck” and took her belongings.
It was during this time that Munnik ran to his mother’s aid and had his licensed firearm in his possession. Shots were fired, Munnik was fatally wounded and the group fled with his firearm. During the heist, they managed to steal a weapon, a mobile and R60,000.
‘The robbery was captured on CCTV and the four robbers were seen coming out of the store and got into a blue sedan parked in front of the store. The blue sedan which had false number plates at the time of the robbery was traced to another accused who turned into a Section 204 witness,’ said Ntabazalila.
Luyanda Lonzi, Sicelo Mase, Awonke Ziqu and Ndyebo Dotwana have all since been given their prison sentences. The accusations against the four individuals were the same, although Mase and Ziqu also had further counts of illegally possessing ammunition and a firearm.
Ndyebo Dotwana was charged on 29 January 2021, together with his three co-accused for the homicidal robbery of Munnik Jewellers’ proprietor in Worcester. Dotwana was found guilty by the Western Cape High Court of two counts of robbery with aggravating circumstances and murder. Mase, Lonzi, and Ziqu pleaded guilty and were each sentenced to 25 years in prison, while Dotwana chose to fight the State’s case against him, which culminated in his conviction and sentence this week, per the Sowetan Live.
Dotwana was sentenced to 20 years imprisonment for two counts of robbery with aggravating circumstances and 25 years for murder. The court ordered the sentences to run concurrently with the murder sentence.
The peak tragedy of it all is that two of the men alleged to have robbed and killed the Cape businessman were out on parole after being sentenced for the ‘corrective’ rape and murder of 19-year-old Zoliswa Nkonyana in 2006.
IOL notes that Lonzi and Mase were previously sentenced prisoners, as they, together with Lubabalo Ntlabathi and Mbulelo Damba, were sentenced to 18 years for the rape and murder of Nkonyana, which rocked the Western Cape 18 years ago after the teen was stoned, kicked and beaten for being a lesbian.
Lonzi and Mase were granted parole in 2019 after they were sentenced to 18 years behind bars. Lonzi was also convicted of escaping from custody while awaiting trial in the murder of Nkonyana.
How such high-risk criminals can ever be let out of prison in the first place is beyond an injustice. Look what happened.
Hopefully, this scum won’t strike again after 25 years.
[source:sowetanlive]
