On 19 January, the Debrecen Tribunal gave the verdict in the case of János T. and his companions who committed armed robbery and kidnapping in South Africa. The incident happened in Johannesburg, 2007. János T. promised a Hungarian businessman, István H. Sz. who used to visit South Africa regularly to help him obtain a residence permit. István agreed to go to an office with János who took him to a house instead. Two other people were waiting for them there. They deprived István of his values, handcuffed him and, threatening him with guns, forced him to go into a room following which they set off to kidnap István’s wife, too.
Later, István could escape because he persuaded one of the perpetrators (Gábor R.) who stayed behind as a guard to take off his handcuffs. He told his wife about what the perpetrators intended to do with her and asked her to go to a safe place. Gábor R. called one of his friends on the phone and that person notified the police. They hurried to the business man’s house where they had a gunfight with the perpetrators but finally, they could arrest them.
A few months after their arrest, the perpetrators were released for unknown reasons. János T. and Krisztián I. came to Hungary but Gábor R. stayed in South Africa. The first two were caught again in Hungary in 2008. János T. got 8 years in prison, Krisztián I. 7 years in prison, Gábor R. – whose whereabouts are still unknown – 1.5 years in prison.
