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By Siviwe Feketha 
16h ago
Johannesburg – Former criminal intelligence chief Richard Mdluli and his co-defendant and former colleague, Mthembeni Mthunzi, spent their first night in jail Tuesday night.
They were sentenced to an effective five years in prison by the South Gauteng Superior Court for their 1998 assault and kidnapping conviction. Their request for permission to appeal in an attempt to avoid jail time was denied.
Previously, Mdluli and Mthunzi had failed in their attempt to defend a non-custodial sentence, as Judge Ratha Mokgoatlheng insisted that jail was the only punishment for them.
The two were found guilty last year of the 1998 kidnapping and assault of Oupa Ramogibe, who had married Mduli’s wife, Tshidi Buthelezi, who was married in common law. The court heard that Mdluli had threatened to kill Ramogibe if he did not end the love triangle by leaving Buthelezi.
They were found guilty of two counts of kidnapping, two counts of assault, and two counts of assault with the intent to cause serious bodily harm.
Judge Mokgoatlheng found that Mdluli and Mthunzi had abused their positions as police officers and abused state resources when they carried out the kidnapping under the pretext of being on duty.
He said he had considered both prison and criminal sentences, as well as a fine and compensation to the victim, but found that the two deserved to go to jail due to the circumstances of the cases.
“We are dealing with two high ranking police officers who assumed powers that police normally have, but these powers were abused to such an extent that it was devastating to the victims and consequently the only appropriate sentence in the circumstances is a penalty. custodial, “he said.
Judge Mokgoatlheng sentenced the couple to three years each for kidnapping, two years for serious bodily injury and one year for common battery.
It decided that the sentences for the charges of kidnapping and common battery should be carried out at the same time.
This means that Mdluli and Mthunzi will each spend five years in prison for their crimes.
Mdluli’s lawyers indicated yesterday that he would ask the Supreme Court of Appeals for permission to appeal both his conviction and his sentence, since the court had made a mistake in finding him guilty.
His defense attorney, Ike Motloung, argued yesterday after sentencing that the witnesses who implicated him in court, including Buthelezi’s friend, who was assaulted by the two when they demanded the whereabouts of Buthelezi and Ramogibe, had lied.
On Monday, Judge Mokgoatlheng noted that court officials had had their character challenged when they were accused of fabricating and fabricating the case by Mdluli and his co-defendants when they testified under oath.
“I have sat on this matter for about six years. There is no evidence that the state fabricated, invented, embedded and cooked against defendants No1 and No2. This court disapproves of that and that is one of the factors that the law says the court must consider, ”Judge Mokgoatlheng said.
Freedom Under Law, which for years has been pushing for the prosecution of Mdluli and which successfully challenged the previous decision of the National Tax Authority (NPA) to drop the charges against him, has welcomed the sentence.
“Today’s (Tuesday) ruling is an important claim to the rule of law in the sense that one of South Africa’s top police officers has finally been held accountable for some of the crimes he committed,” the organization said.
In November, Mdluli will appear in Pretoria High Court to face fraud and corruption charges related to the Crime Intelligence bribery fund.
Political Bureau
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