A man who five years ago helped a group of taxi drivers kill a policeman who impounded their taxis, was sentenced to 30 years imprisonment in the Umtata High Court on Tuesday.
Xolani Ndawombi (24) who is currently serving another 25-year sentence for taxi-related crimes, acted as the getaway driver for the men who killed Clarence Cebo Mvo on April 22, 1997, prosecutors told the court.
Ndawombi’s three co-accused, Mtutuzeli Mbonyana (35) Mzwandile Mtshemla (43) and Oupa Tshimbili Job (27) were all acquitted due to lack of evidence.
Ndawombi confessed to the court that he had been approached by four men who offered him R15 000 for driving them to and from the scene of the crime.
The men apparently told Ndawombi that there was a policeman who was ”worrying them”. He had impounded their vehicles. They said this policeman must be shot, Ndawombi told the court.
Ndawombi then described to the court how the group watched the policeman come out of his Umtata house and then sat by as Job shot the policeman him with a R5 assault rifle.
Police later recovered the rifle from Job’s house, but the court found that the search was unlawful and that Job had been in hospital at the time of the search.
In passing sentence, the judge said Ndawombi’s actions were motivated by greed and that police killers were to be severely punished. – Sapa