Werner Menges
26 September 2007
Windhoek — BARELY three weeks before they would have been eligible for parole after more than seven years in prison, two men accused of pulling off an international phone scam at Gobabis in mid-2000 were this week sent back to jail with new prison terms of six and two years.
Democratic Republic of Congo national Tshimanya Williamson Luboya (40) now faces an effective prison term of six years after his sentencing in the High Court in Windhoek on two counts of theft on Monday.
A co-accused of Luboya, Pakistani citizen Mohammed Ilyas Waheed (35), left the court with a new effective prison term of two years after his and Luboya's sentencing by Acting Judge John Manyarara.
Luboya pleaded guilty to two counts of theft on Wednesday last week.
Waheed admitted guilt on one charge of theft.
Luboya admitted that between July 20 and 27 2000 at Gobabis he stole N$549 727,62 from Telecom Namibia.
Between July 4 and 31 2000 at Gobabis he also stole N$657 463,47 from Telecom Namibia, he further admitted.
The money - a total of more than N$1,2 million - was stolen by obtaining telephone services from Telecom Namibia "with the wrongful and unlawful intent not to pay therefore", with the result that Telecom Namibia lost income to the extent of these amounts, Luboya admitted.
Waheed admitted along the same lines that he stole N$657 463,47 from Telecom Namibia at Gobabis from July 4 to 31 2000.
In the indictment against Luboya and Waheed they were accused of having persuaded people at Gobabis during July 2000 to have phone lines installed at premises at the town in these persons' names.
It was charged that Luboya and Waheed then used the phone lines as a link in an international telephone exchange set-up which is claimed to have ended with them abandoning the lines and the premises, leaving the people in whose names the lines were registered with unpaid phone bills totalling N$549 727,62 and N$657 463,47 respectively.
In a first trial in the High Court, they were initially each convicted on two charges of fraud.
On October 29 2001 they were sentenced to 12 years' imprisonment each on those charges.
They appealed against their conviction, and in early May this year the Supreme Court quashed the convictions and set aside the sentences after finding that their right to a fair trial had been violated when the Directorate of Legal Aid refused to grant them legal aid for their trial.
The Supreme Court however also left open the option for the State to decide to prosecute Luboya and Waheed afresh - while stating that if that was done and they were to be convicted again, the time that they had already spent in prison serving the previous sentences would have to be taken into account when they are sentenced again.
With the sentencing of the two men on Monday, Acting Judge Manyarara said he was taking this into account.
He said the lack of a precedent to guide the court on how to treat an offence of this kind would not deter the court from carrying out its duty of making Namibia a hostile environment for criminals.
He said he further agreed with Deputy Prosecutor General Heidi Jacobs that the sentences he imposed had to serve as tools of deterrence and retribution.
Luboya was sentenced to 12 years' imprisonment, of which six years were suspended for a period of five years on condition he is not convicted of any crime of dishonesty committed during the period of suspension.
Waheed was sentenced to an eight-year prison term, of which six years were suspended on the same conditions as the suspension of part of Luboya's sentence.
If they had not appealed against their previous conviction, Waheed has stated in the High Court during an unsuccessful bail application after the appeal judgement and their re-arrest, his and Luboya's recommended date of release from prison would have been October 14.
Be the first to Write a Comment!
Copyright © 2007 The Namibian. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
