A 36-year-old Zimbabwean illegal cross-border transport operator who kidnapped and robbed two border jumpers of R500 and a cellphone before dumping them near the Limpopo River was sentenced to an effective 20 years in jail.

Doubt Diamond Moyo of Number 66 Kirite Building, Berea, in Johannesburg in Gauteng was convicted by a local regional magistrate, Mr Owen Tagu, during a circuit court hearing in Beit Bridge on Friday. Moyo plead not guilty to the kidnapping and robbery charges, but was convicted and sentenced to an effective 20 years´ imprisonment.

The prosecutor, Mr Johannes Tlou, said that on 7 April, Moyo drove to Beit Bridge in a Gauteng-registered Ford Courier bakkie. On arrival in the border town, he proceeded to a popular pickup point to tout for unsuspecting people intending to cross the border into South Africa illegally.

It was testified that while in the process of doing so, he was approached by the two victims and he then lured them into his car. Moyo drove the two complainants to a bushy area at Makakavhule village, about 20km out of Beit Bridge, under the guise of offering to assist them to cross the flooded Limpopo River into South Africa illegally.

However, he then detained the complainants and placed them under the guard of some notorious touts.

Moyo took a cellphone belonging to one of the complainants before robbing the other of R100. The court heard that Moyo further instructed one of the complainants’ relatives to deposit R400 into his South African bank account.

Soon after they were released, the victims went to the police station and reported the matter, leading to the arrest of Moyo and the subsequent recovery of the stolen cellphone. The money was not recovered.