It’s not every day that someone who is doing honest work, trying to provide for their family, is killed because robbers decide to use him as a human shield in a shootout with police.
This was Nkululeko Mtyingizane’s fate, an Eastern Cape man who was a trolley assistant, who died when Lwando Ntiyantiya (36) and Nkosekhaya Lloyd (38) were doing a cash-in-transit heist at a Shoprite store in Centane.
It was the state’s case at the Makhanda High Court that on 2 March 2022, G4S security guards were collecting money from the store in Centane when police officers noticed the cash-in-transit vehicle and monitored it.
“The guards were confronted at gunpoint by the robbers who took the cash box, containing R78 500, as well as their firearms. One of the robbers forced Nkululeko, a bystander, to carry the cash box," the court heard.
“A shootout between the robbers and the police ensued during which they shot at the police officers who responded. One of the men used Nkululeko as a human shield and he was shot and killed.
“They were also shot and injured, and Lwando and Nkosekhaya were arrested on the scene. They had the firearms taken from the previous robberies in Whittlesea and East London.”
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Lwando and Nkosekhaya had been wanted for a string of cash-in-transit heists across the Eastern Cape province.
Evidence presented to the court was that on 6 July 2021, employees of a cash loan business in Whittlesea arranged for Red Guard Security to accompany them to withdraw money from the bank.
Lwando and Nkosekhaya were waiting for them. Upon their return, they confronted the security officer who was carrying the money.
“They hit him on the head with a firearm and made off with R407 000 and his firearm. On 9 September 2021, a security officer and his colleague were collecting money from a McDonald's outlet in Amalinda in East London,” the court heard.
“When he exited the business carrying the cash box, as he was loading it into the cash-in-transit vehicle, the assailants confronted him. One of them pointed a firearm at him and took the money box, carrying R33 900, as well as the security official’s firearm. They fled the scene in a getaway vehicle."
On 15 January 2022, Lwando requested the owner of a bakkie to assist him with transport to East London. In East London, they picked up Nkosekhaya and other unknown men and drove to Big Daddy Liquor Store.
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“When a G4S security detail arrived at the liquor outlet to collect money, they were confronted by the men and pointed with firearms. The guard dropped the money box, ran to the cash-in-transit vehicle, and locked the door. The robbers loaded the money box, containing R269 000, on the back of the bakkie and the driver drove off.
“The driver of the cash-in-transit vehicle pursued the bakkie and rear-ended it causing the bakkie driver to plough into a wall. They abandoned the vehicle, leaving the money box in it. The driver attempted to report the bakkie as robbed in Komani, but he was arrested,” the court heard.
Lwando and Nkosekhaya were sentenced to life imprisonment for Nkululeko’s death.
The court additionally sentenced the duo to 60 years for four counts of robbery with aggravating circumstances, five years for three charges of attempted murder, 10 years for possession of illegal firearms and three years for illegal possession of ammunition.
The court ordered the sentences to run concurrently with the life sentence of murder.
