Victims are haunted by torturers
‘Boiling water gang identified’
IT TOOK just seconds in an identity parade for the victims of a brutal armed robbery to identify the man who tortured them.
“The face of their torturer is imprinted in their minds forever,” said investigating officer Swami Pillay.
He was testifying in the New Hanover Magistrate’s Court yesterday in opposition to bail being granted to Mvusi Dlamini, 26, of K-section in Umlazi, and Lucky Mbonambi, 28, of Reunion in Isipingo.
The two have been charged with the armed robbery and assault of a family in the Albert Falls area in April
A third suspect, Siyabonga Mchunu, declined to apply for bail.
Pillay said the police were still on the hunt for four others involved in the attack, but were closing in on them.
Two other suspects who have been arrested are co-operating with the State.
The men are alleged to have been part of an armed gang that stormed Ahmed Lakhi’s home on a Cramond farm.
The family had visitors at the time of the attack.
It is alleged they tortured the family and poured boiling water on some of them, including a two-year-old child.
The gang got away with items including handbags, firearms, jewellery, and cellphones, worth at total of about R168 000. Cash was also taken.
They have been charged with two counts of robbery with aggravating circumstances, six counts of assault with intent to cause grievous bodily harm and seven counts of fraud, as well as theft of a vehicle and unlawful possession of firearms and ammunition.
The fraud charges arise from the use of a petrol card stolen from the Lakhi family.
Mchunu is alleged to have identified the family as targets to his gang of accomplices.
“The victims identified Dlamini as their primary torturer, who assaulted them and poured the boiling water on them,” Pillay said.
He also confirmed that Dlamini had been previously charged with rape.
This charge was provisionally withdrawn because the State was still awaiting confir- mation of DNA evidence.
Dlamini also faces a pending charge of armed robbery in relation to a cash-in-transit heist in Verulam in 2010.
“He was out on bail when he was arrested in connection with this case,” Pillay said.
Dlamini is expected to appear in court for the cash-intransit heist case on June 14.
The bail application has been adjourned to June 19.