Pietermaritzburg Paint shop owner killers arrested

A man has admitted he shot dead Allandale shop owner Shaik Ahmed Ali, during a robbery last month.

The man told a judge that while he was looking for money, Ali had started screaming out loudly.

The gunman, Thabiso Justice Ndlovu, and co-accused Nqobani Dlamini and Lindokuhle Ndlovu, all pleaded guilty before Pietermaritzburg high court Judge Piet Bezuidenhout to Ali’s murder and to robbing him and his wife, Farzana, of a gold and silver ring.

After finding the three men guilty, the court adjourned the case to Monday for victim impact statements from Ali’s family members.

Describing what happened on the day of the incident, January 19, Thabiso Ndlovu said a few weeks before that day, he told his accomplices that he knew of a way they could get money.

Ndlovu said he indicated to them that there was a shop in the Allandale area that was owned by very old people who kept a lot of money on the premises and that they should rob the couple.

Ndlovu said on the day in question, the three of them and another person named Mbongeni had gone to Alison Auto Paints Shop all armed.

After they entered, Ndlovu said he reached for the counter and as he began looking for where the money was kept, the owner started screaming out.

He said he then shot the owner once on the upper part of his body before fleeing the scene with his companions and was arrested three weeks later.