The cases against the three men who allegedly robbed men they lured on gay dating app Grindr will all be heard in Cape Town Magistrate’s Court.
Mlungisi Vincent, Bongani Zulu and Zwelakhe Ngwenya face seven counts of kidnapping, extortion and robbery with aggravating circumstances.
On 14 June, the Hawks and the organised crime unit made an arrest in Woodstock after noticing suspicious activities in the bank account of a 50-year-old individual who was being held hostage.
It later emerged that the accused had more victims and five more matters were added to the case.
On Wednesday morning, the accused made a brief appearance in Bellville Magistrate’s Court where the request by the State to be transferred to Cape Town was granted.
National Prosecuting Authority regional spokesperson Eric Ntabazalila said: “The case in Bellville has been transferred to Cape Town for centralisation. So we will have all of them on 1 August when they are expected to apply for bail.
“We had asked the court to centralise all and to appear in Cape Town, so we don’t have to go to different courts.
“They are facing kidnapping, extortion, and robbery with aggravating circumstances charges. We have added a new cybercrime charge, we have drafted an interim charge sheet.”
The other victims are from Cape Town, Claremont, Durbanville, Camps Bay and Brackenfell.
According to the Ntabazalila, the modus operandi was the same across the board.
“In the Durbanville matter, It is alleged that the accused had been communicating with the complainant via the app. He was called and told to meet at a guest house.
“They then tied him up and demanded money from him. He called his employer who paid them about R3000 and he was released and able to identify them by photo identification.
“We now have a new case of Camps Bay. It’s actually not a new case, it’s from 2023. The victim and the accused were chatting on the app and he was invited to a hotel.
“He went and then he was kidnapped, tied up and then they took R100 000 from his bank account.”