The Pretoria North Magistrate’s Court has sentenced “two illegal immigrants” – Azara Josea Nyungele, 36, from Mozambique and Tatenda Tupudza, 22, from Zimbabwe to 26 years imprisonment collectively for housebreaking and being in the country illegally.
Lumka Mahanjana, Gauteng regional spokesperson for the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) said Nyungele was sentenced to 20 years imprisonment, while Tupudza was slapped with six years. They were both declared unfit to possess a firearm.
“This is after Nyungele, was found guilty of 11 counts of housebreaking and being illegal in the country, while Tupudza was found guilty of one count of housebreaking and being illegal in the country. The offences happened between May 2019 and January 2022, when they broke into the complainant’s households while sleeping and took luxury items,” said Mahanjana.
The duo was arrested after breaking into a house in Annlin, Sinoville in Pretoria on January 27.
“In court, they pleaded guilty to the charges preferred against them, and in their guilty plea statement, they told the court that they stole these items to sell them. In aggravation, the prosecutor Rabia Ebrahim told the court that such crimes are prevalent in the court’s area of jurisdiction,” Mahanjana said.
“Each count of housebreaking involved luxury items, with a total loss of over R10 000. Furthermore, there was no justification for the reasons provided for offences committed.”
The NPA has welcomed the sentence.
In July, the High Court in Pretoria sentenced convicted robbers – Henrico Fourie, 39, Fannie Morris Mbuyani, 30, Jasias Lucus Maseko, 48 and Lazarus Ntlatleng, 28, to 30 years direct imprisonment each for robbing an SBV cash-in-transit vehicle of more than R25 million.
The court also ordered that the accused should jointly, and severally compensate SBV for the loss, Mahanjana said at the time.
“This is after Judge Bert Bam, convicted them of robbery with aggravating circumstances, causing an explosion, conspiracy to commit an offence, possession of an unlawful firearm and possession of unlawful ammunition.
“One of the alleged robbers Bekithemba Patrick Mbanjwa, who was out on bail did not appear in court on the day of judgment,” Mahanjana said.
A warrant of arrest has been issued for Mbanjwa.
