The man who held a Home Affairs employee hostage with a toy gun will no longer have to serve a jail term, the Sowetan newspaper reported on Tuesday.

Kabelo Thibedi was sentenced in 2006 after holding Home Affairs official Lanelle Small hostage with a toy gun in an attempt to get his identity document (ID).

But he appealed his conviction and the Johannesburg High Court backdated his sentence two weeks ago, which means he will not have to serve jail time.

"I am now free from all the stressful court appearances," said Thibedi, who was facing an effective 18 months in prison.

"The high court upheld his sentence but backdated his 18 months sentence," Thibedi's lawyer Japhta Mphahlani told the newspaper.

"This means he is not going to jail."

On 30 November 2005, Thibedi locked himself and Small in a room for about six hours, demanding his ID before he would release her. Home Affairs officials eventually brought the ID book to him from Pretoria.

He now wants to start a non-governmental organisation to help people who are struggling to get their ID books.

In September this year, a tearful Home Affairs Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma attended the funeral of a KwaZulu-Natal man who hanged himself because he could not get his ID book in time to start a new job.

Sapa

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