Durban — The Ntuzuma Magistrate’s Court has sentenced two women and a man for luring their victim under the pretence of a threesome, then assaulting him with a hammer and robbing him to a combined term of imprisonment of 48 years for the crime.
On Friday, Magistrate E La Grange sentenced the hit man, Syed Arif Kazmi, 34, and the “honey trap”, Rekha Singh, 29, to 15 years. This was while she handed the “mastermind”, Gwendolene Leonara Mackenzie, 40, 18 years behind bars.
The three had pleaded guilty to the crime, which took place in 2019 in Newlands West. They were charged with robbery with aggravating circumstances where the victim was hit with a hammer on the head and arm by Kazmi and Singh, while Mackenzie threw glass plates and other objects at him.
Among items stolen from the victim were his car, cellphone, gun and ammunition. Neither the vehicle nor the cellphone were recovered.
During the trial, the court had heard how Mackenzie had been flirting and chatting with the victim on WhatsApp and how an elaborate scheme to rob the complainant of cash and his valuables was hatched.
Singh and Kazmi are a couple and had been renting a room in the home where Mackenzie was a tenant.
The plan entailed luring the complainant to Mackenzie’s house on the pretext of offering a sexual encounter with Singh and herself.
Once the unsuspecting complainant was in a compromising position with Singh, Kazmi entered the room, demanded payment and robbed the complainant of his valuables.
On the day of the planned robbery, the victim had had his shirt removed and Singh was clad only in her underwear and bra, while Mackenzie was wearing her bra.
Whilst Singh was sitting on the complainant's lap, Mackenzie left the room to call Kazmi.
The magistrate said the court was convinced that the three’s plea of guilty had been an effort to get a more lenient sentence, rather than remorse.
“Instead, their defence was that alcohol was consumed during the commission of the crime and they minimised their actions against each other. The fact that they all pleaded guilty and were remorseful ... the court is unsure about that. They could have helped police recover the car and cellphone, which were never found.”
She said before her reaching her decision on sentence, she considered the three’s personal circumstances, which were presented as substantial and compelling circumstances by their defence for the court to deviate from the minimum sentence of 15 years for the charge of which they were convicted.
Their personal circumstances were that Singh had grown up in government places of safety after her parents died and before that lived in a household of alcohol abuse, violence and exposure to sex and an early age. Mackenzie told the court she was a first offender and was eight months’ pregnant.
However, La Grange said she did not find these circumstances compelling enough to deviate from the minimum sentence, adding that “the public needed to be protected from people like the accused”.
Daily News