Four in court for farm robbery
FOUR suspects who were allegedly involved in an armed robbery on a farm just outside Kimberley last year, appeared in the Kimberley Magistrate’s Court yesterday for a schedule six bail application.
Johannes Zikalala, Thulani Ngwenya, Sello Molokamme and Itumeleng Sehema stand accused of aggravated robbery after they were allegedly involved in an attack on the farm Eberon, 10 kilometres outside Kimberley on the N12, on June 15 last year.
According to police, the four entered the farm and found the owner, his daughter and her grandmother on the premises.
The suspects apparently demanded to know where the family kept their firearms and other valuables.
They allegedly demanded the keys to the safe at gunpoint and tied up the family members with cable ties before fleeing the scene in the farmer’s wife’s Mercedes-Benz with an undisclosed amount of cash, an unconfirmed number of firearms found in the safe and cellphones.
The vehicle was later spotted abandoned along the N12, a few Danie van der Lith
kilometres away from the scene, by a police helicopter that had been deployed to track a Toyota Land Cruiser that was stolen from Mokala National Park the night before.
Zikalala, Ngwenya and Molokamme handed in their formal bail applications while Sehema, who was yesterday added as a suspect, opted to abandon his bail bid.
State prosecutor Edwin Malawane is expected to start leading evidence when the case continues next week.