A former police captain has been sentenced to 15 years imprisonment for robbery and kidnapping. Steve Molatedi was sentenced at the Bafokeng Regional Court in Tlhabane, Rustenburg.
Molatedi was found guilty in September 2022 of robbery with aggravating circumstances and kidnapping.
The convict’s sentencing emanated from an incident in which he and his accomplice robbed a foreign national-owned business on Monday, 12 March 2018. Evidence indicated that the convict held the shop owner at gunpoint and robbed him of cash and other valuables.
"The incident occurred near a well-known hotel between Phokeng and Ledig village outside Rustenburg, where the victim was locked and left in a chalet," said North West Police Spokesperson Brigadier Sabata Mokgwabone.
After the event, Molatedi, then aged 56, was arrested 17 days later. After all his bail attempts were denied, the former law enforcement officer has been in custody since his detention. His accomplice was found not guilty and discharged.
He was sentenced to 12 years imprisonment for robbery with aggravating circumstances and three years for kidnapping. The court ordered that the sentences run concurrently. He was not found guilty on any other count.
“On welcoming the sentence, the Provincial Commissioner, Lieutenant-General Sello Kwena, said that criminality will not be tolerated within the ranks of the South African Police Service. He thanked the Investigating Officer Lieutenant-Colonel Patrick Murunwa, the Prosecutor, Mr Zola Mpayipheli, and other role-players for securing the sentence, which he said would send a clear message: crime does not pay," Mokgwabone said.
The Director for Public Prosecution in North West, Dr Rachel Makhari-Sekhaolelo, said the sentence indicates that collaborations of entities in line with the resolution of the conference held in August last year were bearing fruit and that no stone would be left unturned to ensure that offenders were convicted.
