Sentence proceedings in the trial of four people, including a former Fidelity Security guard, who robbed a cash-in-transit van were delayed on Friday after one of the men requested to have his case reopened.
As proceedings were about to get under way in the Gqeberha high court, advocate Chris Nel, representing Lusanda Ludziya, told the judge that his mandate had been cancelled by Ludziya, and that his former client wanted his case reopened as he now had an alibi witness.
In March Ludziya, 35, along with Sonwabo Gcuwa, 39, and Simthembile Qhongoshani, 35, were found guilty on a charge of murder, two counts of attempted murder, robbery with aggravating circumstances, and one count each for the illegal possession of a firearm and ammunition.
Former security guard Nontuthuzelo Majola, 37, was found guilty of the robbery only.
The brazen daylight heist of a Fidelity cash van took place on May 2 2018, leaving one of the suspects dead.
A fifth person, Sibongile Nozinxezu, 35, was acquitted on all charges after the court found that the state had failed to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that he was either directly or indirectly involved in the heist.
Malibongwe Boletyeni, 27, was shot dead during a shoot-out with police on the corner of Ditchling Street and Chase Drive in Algoa Park after a high-speed car chase through the streets of Gqeberha.
Majola, who had driven the van to the Sasol garage in Linton Grange on the morning of the incident, was arrested on May 11 2018 after being interviewed by the police and her cellphone was confiscated.
Her phone was linked to Gcuwa’s through messages found on his phone during the morning of the robbery.
Gcuwa was arrested at the scene of the shooting, and his phone was confiscated.
A 9mm firearm which had been stolen from a Fidelity Security guard on the same day was found in his possession.
On the day of the robbery, the perpetrators had stopped at the Sasol garage after receiving instructions from Majola to rob her colleague of the R164,000 he was transporting. The money was never recovered.
The matter was postponed to May 19 for Legal Aid SA to assign a new lawyer to Ludziya.
HeraldLIVE