Former AmaZulu player Thulani Cele sentenced to 18 months in Georgia
"We can confirm that Thulani Cele is still in prison in Georgia."
The aunt of the former of AmaZulu attacker Thulani Cele has confirmed that the player has been sentenced to 18 months in prison for stealing a phone.
Cele was reported to be missing last year after going for a bogus trial in Georgia and he was later found to be detained.
The 22-year-old star graduated from the Nedbank Cup Ke Yona Team and was snapped up by Usuthu.
But he did not make a mark at DStv Premiership AmaZulu and his career stalled.
Soon after parting ways with AmaZulu, Cele was assisted by an unknown agent he met while in the Ke Yona squad to organised a trial overseas.
However, it was discovered that the trial at Georgia’s first division side FC Gagra was bogus.
Cele had travelled thinking he was going for trials in Georgia but found out it was all a scam upon his arrival.
WHY THULANI CELE WAS ARRESTED
“We can confirm that Thulani Cele is still in prison in Georgia,” Cele’s aunt Nonhlahla Shongwe told Thabiso Mosia SAFM.
“He has been sentenced to 18 months for robbery [stealing a phone]. He was advised to plead guilty for a lesser sentence.
“Thulani had a legal representative in Georgia. According to his lawyer, Thulani took a cell phone to make a call home.
“There was no force or robbery as they claimed. He returned the phone, even the owner of the phone confirmed this.
“Also there was a language barrier during the case which could have affected the matters.
“Unfortunately, we didn’t receive any assistance from the Department of International Relations and Cooperations.
Cele’s sister Shongwe added: “The only organization that assisted us was SAFPU. We are grateful to them because they went out of their way to help us.
“Thulani was sentenced on the 4th of December but prior to that he has been detained from 2nd of June last year.
“We are still not sure if the sentence will be backdated because we haven’t seen the court documents.
“And we have been able to speak to Thulani; he still says he didn’t steal the phone.
“But the most comforting thing is that he seem to be doing better than we expected.”
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