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Man faces jail over nurse abductionPlay

Eight-year sentence for abduction

Published: Tuesday, 21 July 2009, 8:06AM

A illegal immigrant who abducted a nurse and left her tied up in the boot of her car for ten days has been sentenced to eight years in prison at the High Court in Glasgow.

Justice Ngema, 35, stole 38-year-old Magdeline Makola's bank cards to fund a Christmas shopping spree and drank champagne with friends while she lay tied up for around ten days in sub-zero temperatures last December.

South African-born Ms Makola, who lived in Livingston, West Lothian, had not been seen since she left work at Edinburgh Royal Infirmary on December 15, and was reported missing on December 18 when she failed to turn up for her shift.

Passers-by eventually heard her cries for help and police found her dehydrated and suffering from hypothermia in her red Vauxhall Astra in Airdrie, Lanarkshire, on Boxing Day.

Despite her ordeal - which left her with scars and nerve damage - Ms Makola said she feels no anger towards Ngema, who is also known as Sifiso Praise God Ngema, and that her faith in God helped her through the trauma.

In a statement read by police outside court on her behalf in April she said: "I am pleased that Justice Ngema has pleaded guilty today and I want people to know that I feel no anger towards him, only pity. I wish him well in the future and I will pray for him."

Ngema was in the country despite being deported in 2002 after a failed claim for asylum. He had been using his brother's passport and had only known his victim briefly before the attack at her home.

At a hearing at the High Court in Edinburgh in April he pleaded guilty to 14 charges, including theft from a cash machine and a string of frauds using Ms Makola's bank cards at designer shops in the run-up to Christmas.

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