The Durban High Court sentenced Robert Chisi (27), Lehlohonolo Motlomelo (33), and Thabo Michael Lebofa (28) to life in prison for the robbery and murder of their boss in September 2020. The trio who were sentenced on Thursday, received an additional 20 years imprisonment for robbery with aggravating circumstances.

REFURBISHED OLD HOUSES

The three killed Leighton Frank Agg who lived alone in a property that he was having refurbishing with the intention to sell it. Leighton and his father, Frank Agg (senior) were in business together where they refurbished old houses and then sold them. Chisi and Motlomelo worked for them chipping the building walls which were to be plastered. KZN National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) spokesperson Natasha Ramkisson-Kara said that at some stage, Leighton informed them that he would be engaging the services of professional plasterers. "This angered them as believed that the job was theirs. Therefore they hatched a plan to rob and murder him by recruiting Lebofa who was a friend of Motlomelo. They even created a WhatsApp group called ‘Hustlers,’ where they communicated with each other," Kara said. She added that on the day of the incident, they attacked Leighton in his garage and tortured him to reveal the PIN codes to his bank accounts after he did, they strangled him with an electric cord and bludgeoned him to death with a hammer," she said.

THEY WENT ON A SHOPPING SPREE

Kara said that the trio stole their victim’s cellphones, laptop, and wallet with his cards inside and went on a shopping spree. "Lebofa then drove Leighton’s bakkie (with the body in it) to the Greytown area, where it was dumped in a river. He abandoned the vehicle at the Market Road offramp near Pietermaritzburg, after stripping off the registration plates and licence disc. The men then transferred money from Leighton’s bank account, made withdrawals, and went on a shopping spree using his bank card," she said. Kara said that Leighton’s body was later recovered by the police. "Upon questioning, Chisi revealed his involvement in the crime. Agg senior then enlisted the assistance of a private investigator who traced the other two men using cellphone tracking data," she said.

SENTENCING

Senior State Advocate Nadira Moosa led the evidence of Chisi’s statement together with cellphone data and evidence of financial transactions reflected on Leighton’s bank statement. Moosa successfully argued for the court to increase the sentence for the robbery charges from the prescribed minimum sentence of 15 years imprisonment to 20 years imprisonment. The state also submitted a Victim Impact Statement compiled by Agg senior and facilitated by Court Preparation Officer Thandeka Nadi Mofokeng. In his statement, Agg senior said that his son’s death has devastated their entire family and they are still grieving. He said that he still cannot sleep and the memories of the incidents following his son’s murder will haunt him forever. The men were sentenced to life imprisonment for murder and 20 years imprisonment for robbery with aggravating circumstances.