allAfrica.com: Namibia: Five Jailed Over Highway Heist (Page 1 of 1)

Prison terms ranging from five to 17 years were yesterday handed to the five people who were last week convicted of having been involved in the third largest cash-in-transit heist case to have gone on trial in Namibia's High Court to date.

The five were found guilty on Monday last week on charges stemming from a highway robbery in which N$1,516 million was stolen from a cash-in-transit vehicle in northern Namibia on November 8 2002.

The vehicle, belonging to Rubicon Security Services, was transporting cash that had been collected at Oshikango from clients of the security company when, some 10 kilometres before reaching Ondangwa, the driver of the vehicle stopped to pick up someone dressed in a Rubicon guard's uniform who was standing by the side of the road.

The supposedly hitch-hiking colleague of the driver of the vehicle and a Rubicon guard who was also in the vehicle, however attacked the driver and the guard with pepper spray after they had stopped. This set in motion a robbery in which about four robbers ended up stealing N$1,516 million from the back of the vehicle. Former Rubicon Security Services guard Joseph Joseph ('JJ') Kagamenwa (33), who was the guard in the cash-in-transit vehicle during the robbery, and self-employed businessman Jesaja Shigwedha (36) were sentenced to a total of 22 years' imprisonment each yesterday.

Acting Judge Christie Liebenberg convicted them last week on charges of robbery with aggravating circumstances and conspiracy to commit robbery. He sentenced them to 17 years' imprisonment on the robbery charge and a five-year prison term on the conspiracy charge, and ordered that the two sentences should be served concurrently, leaving Kagamenwa and Shigwedha with effective sentences of 17 years' imprisonment each.

Kagamenwa's sister, Johanna Wilbard (35), and an elder brother of Shigwedha, Andreas Henock (48), who were convicted of robbery with aggravating circumstances as accessories after the fact, were sentenced to effective jail terms of eight years each. They were sentenced to ten years' imprisonment each, of which two years were suspended for a period of five years on condition that they are not again convicted of robbery committed during the period of suspension.

Coming off the lightest was Alfeus Akawa Shikongo (36), who was convicted only on a charge of conspiracy to commit robbery. Acting Judge Liebenberg sentenced him to five years' imprisonment. In the verdict that Acting Judge Liebenberg delivered last week, he found that Shikongo, Kagamenwa and Shigwedha had taken part in the planning of the robbery at Oshakati during October 2002.

Kagamenwa, Shigwedha and other people were involved in the actual robbery on November 8 2002, it was further found. After the robbery, Kagamenwa hid part of the stolen money at Wilbard's home at a village in the Omusati Region, while Shigwedha did the same at Henock's house in Windhoek.

The Police later found this money - totalling US$73 200 and 49 550,60 in Namibia dollars and South African rand - at these two hiding places.

FIRST OFFENDERS All five the convicted persons are first offenders and parents of children that they are taking care of, the court was informed after they were found guilty.

Having led decent lives up to the time of the robbery, it remains a mystery why they had decided to involve themselves in such a crime, Acting Judge Liebenberg remarked during the sentencing.

He went on to indicate that the answer seemed to lie in discontent that they had with the standard of their lives, and greed that prompted them to decide to become involved in a robbery in which such a large amount of money was stolen. Serious crimes such as robbery erode the foundations on which the people of Namibia have chosen to build a stable and fair society, Acting Judge Liebenberg told the five. He added that the robbery was planned about a month before it was carried out, and that those involved as a result had ample time to reflect and come to their senses - which they did not do.

With the sentences imposed yesterday, the court was trying to send out a clear message that crimes like murder, rape and robbery are unacceptable and that those who make themselves guilty of these crimes must be uprooted from society, Acting Judge Liebenberg said.

In two previous cash-in transit heist trials that took place in the High Court - involving a robbery during which N$4,5 million was stolen from an aeroplane at the Karibib air field in late September 1998 and a robbery in which N$5,3 million was stolen from a cash-in-transit vehicle that was ambushed in the Brakwater area near Windhoek in mid-November 2000 - sentences ranging between eight and 20 years' imprisonment were imposed on the robbery charges involved in those cases, Acting Judge Liebenberg noted. With the robbery the five were convicted of, no shooting took place - unlike in those previous cases - and a much smaller amount of money was stolen, warranting somewhat lighter sentences than had been imposed in those cases, he indicated.

Acting Judge Liebenberg also ordered that the money recovered from the hiding places should be returned to the clients of Rubicon from where the cash had been collected at Oshikango.

State advocate Ed Marondedze conducted the prosecution in the trial. Defence lawyer Lucia Hamutenya represented Shikongo, while Bradley Basson represented Kagamenwa, Shigwedha, Henock and Wilbard.

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