Violent Illegal Immigrant Jailed for 8 Years

An illegal immigrant from South Africa has been jailed for 8 years today after kidnapping and robbing a nurse in Scotland.

He then locked her in a car boot and left her for dead. She remained there for ten days before the police rescued her.

As well as the jail term, which was handed down for kidnap and 13 other offences, the judge recommended that 35 year old Justice Ngema be deported after his release - but ordered a psychiatric review, 'just in case he is not'.

The full story:

A nurse who spent ten days trapped in the boot of her car after she was kidnapped by a violent illegal immigrant has told how she 'made friends with death' during her terrifying ordeal.

Magdeline Makola, 38, spent over a week bound and blindfolded in what she described as 'her coffin' as the winter temperatures outside plunged into minus figures.

She was so thirsty that she tried to drink condensation - and all the while was living in abject fear hat her abductor would return to the vehicle and strangle her with the rope around her neck.

She said: 'I thought that the minute he's finished with my money he's going to come back and pull it. So I just started to make friends with death.'

Drifting in and out of consciousness, Miss Makola kicked out at the Vauxhall Astra's bodywork in order to try and attract the attention of people walking past.

However, she said: 'One day I heard no sound outside and concluded it was Christmas Day.

'I decided to curl up and try to relax and enjoy Christmas in the boot. I sang and prayed to myself. I just started giving up on life and I was picturing myself in the coffin.'

Miss Makola spoke as her abductor Justice Ngema, 35, was jailed for eight years and told that on his release he will be deported to his native South Africa.

Ngema abducted Miss Makola, who worked as cardiology nurse at the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary, from her flat in Livingstone on December 16 last year.

He punched her in the head, threatened her with a knife and when she screamed told her: 'I'm a professional in this job. I kill people. You shut up right now.' Ngema then bundled her into his car.

After taking his victim's credit and cash cards, Ngema used a rope to bind her neck, arms and feet. He then covered her mouth with tape, tied a scarf around her eyes and dumped the car outside Drumgelloch railway station in rural Lanarkshire.

For the next ten days, Miss Makola was forced to survive with neither food or drink as the outside temperature fell below zero.

Talking to Sky News today, the South-African born nurse said: 'I tried to squeeze some condensation from the boot interior in the hope it would relieve my thirst but it was no good because of the tape on my mouth.'

It was not until Boxing Day that Miss Makola was finally discovered by two passing policemen.

She said: 'I could hear two men talking so I lifted my head to the gap in the boot and shouted "Please help me!"

'I heard the footsteps come towards me and when they opened the boot and said they were the police, I thought "Thank God, I've been rescued."'

The court heard how Miss Makola screamed in pain as the blindfold was taken off. Doctors found her fingers were white and lifeless from the tying up and her wrists, ankles and feet were cut and scratched.

She was also suffering from hypothermia and dehydration which had affected her kidneys and circulation. Doctors said that if she hadn't had been found, she probably would have died within 24 hours.

The High Court in Glasgow heard that after entering the UK illegally, Ngema tried to claim asylum in 2001 but his application was rejected. He was deported on May 2002.

However, just three months later he re-entered the country using his brother's passport. He had stayed in the UK illegally since then, working occasionally as a security guard.

While his victim was left helpless in his car, Ngema used her bank cards to spend £2,600 on a shopping spree, trips with his girlfriend and to buy Christmas presents for himself.

He even bought himself champagne and cocktails in expensive bars.

Judge Lord Menzies today gave Ngema an eight-year jail term as well a recommendation that he be deported on his release.

In case Ngema is not deported, the judge issued a order which would see him remain behind bars as long as psychiatrists rule that he poses a risk.

The judge told him: 'What you did was to inflict a truly dreadful physical and mental ordeal on a young woman who had done you no harm at all. You dumped her in the boot of a car and left her there with no food or water or heat for ten days.

'It's quite remarkable that she survived for so long. If the weather conditions had been different or if she hadn't been so strong, the medical evidence suggests that she wouldn't have survived another two days.

'It must have been incredibly uncomfortable and completely horrific for Miss Makola - it was the stuff of nightmares. I cannot imagine a greater disrespect for another human being than the way you treated your victim.'

Ngema pleaded guilty to abduction, fraud, attempted fraud and theft earlier this year. A further 13 other charges were ordered to lie on file.

A UK Border Agency spokesman said: 'This was a shocking crime and following his sentence we will seek to remove this individual from the UK.'