GRABOUW – Two men accused of robbing a Fidelity cash guard in broad daylight in Grabouw’s main road last Monday were arrested two days later and have appeared in court.
Zinzi Hani, spokesperson for the Hawks, confirmed Masixole Cekiso (34) and Melikhaya Mangoloti (38) appeared in the Grabouw Magistrates’ Court on Thursday 28 July, facing charges ranging from cash-in-transit robbery and robbery with aggravating circumstances to attempted murder, attempted car hijacking and car hijacking.
The charges relate to an incident on Monday 25 July, during which several shots were fired, a Fidelity guard was attacked and sustained a head wound, a car was hijacked and a large amount of cash stolen.
The guard was on his way to Nedbank to deposit money when he was attacked.
“During the incident shots were fired and one robber was wounded in his right leg,” she said. “The guard was robbed of two empty CPC boxes and one bag of money containing an undisclosed amount of cash. The injured suspect reportedly ran towards the taxi rank.”
His uninjured accomplices’ attempt at hijacking a white Toyota Conquest was hampered when the driver fired three shots to scare them off.
“They ran towards the taxi rank, where they hijacked a black VW Chico Golf. The injured suspect was collected on the way.”
The suspects reportedly drove to Strand, where the Golf was set alight. From there they drove off in a bronze Toyota Corolla and headed to Khayelitsha Hospital, where they reportedly dropped the injured man off. This “error” apparently led to the arrest of three suspects.
While a doctor was attending to the patient, a nurse alerted a police officer to the patient with the suspicious looking gun wound.
“While waiting for back-up the officer saw the driver of a BMW trying to collect the patient with the gunshot wound. The driver was arrested together with the injured suspect.
“After a further preliminary investigation the driver of the bronze Toyota Corolla was also arrested, and the vehicle was confiscated and impounded for further investigation.”
Hani confirmed the driver of the BMW was released as he could not be linked to the crime scene. Cekiso and Mangoloti appeared in the Grabouw Magistrates’ Court. The case was postponed to 10 August.