The beautician kidnapped and held hostage for three days did not want her kidnappers to receive a lengthy jail term.
|||The beautician kidnapped from Constantia Village shopping centre and held hostage for three days had a “soft spot” for her kidnappers and did not want them to receive a lengthy prison sentence, the Wynberg Regional Court has heard.
In the end, they were sentenced to an effective 12 years behind bars. Sarah Lund was quoted in the probation officers’ reports compiled on Judis Midi, 26, Denis Chiri, 30, and Solomon Khumalo, 32, as saying that they were “not hardened criminals, just people who made a mistake”.
In sentencing the men on Tuesday, magistrate Jackie Redelinghuys agreed with Lund, adding that she was a “good-hearted person”. But Redelinghuys said the majority of society would expect a long prison sentence to be imposed.
Redelinghuys sentenced the men to five years for robbery and theft, saying that the prescribed minimum sentence of 15 years in jail for aggravated robbery – with which they were initially charged – did not apply because their plan was to kidnap someone and later claim a ransom.
The aggravated robbery charge related to Lund’s cellphone and bank card that were stolen, and the charge of theft for a sum of R2 000 later taken from her bank account.
A sentence of 12 years’ imprisonment was imposed for the kidnapping and attempted extortion charges. The charges are to run concurrently.
He said the sentence handed down should act as a deterrent to other criminals because the accused were convicted of extremely serious charges.
“It is abundantly clear that all the offences stemmed from one planned incident. The accused wanted to kidnap someone from an area where people are probably more wealthy and wanted a R200 000 ransom,” Redelinghuys said.
“This is the kind of scene one expects in a movie, not at a well-known, busy shopping mall in Constantia.”
Lund was blindfolded and threatened at gunpoint not to make a sound as she was shoved into a minibus taxi on the evening of May 28, 2009.
The men were arrested three days later when police, posing as Lund’s family, pretended to hand over the ransom.
On Tuesday Redelinghuys said the only factors that counted in the men’s favour was that they were first offenders and that they did not harm Lund.
Said Lund afterwards: “I am happy they never harmed me… that’s probably why I have a soft spot for them.”.
jade.witten@inl.co.za - Cape Argus