Namibia: Four-year prison term for cellphone robbery

August 23rd, 2009

 

 

Windhoek (Namibia) - An unemployed Windhoek resident who stole a cellphone in a street robbery in Katutura ten months ago got his comeuppance in court on Monday, when he was sent straight to prison for four years.

Appearing before Magistrate Bernhard Tjatjara in the Windhoek Magistrate's Court in Katutura, Deon Aochamub (27) pleaded guilty to a charge of robbery with aggravating circumstances.

Aochamub admitted that on October 3 last year, he used a knife to rob a man in the Dolam area of Katutura. The item that he stole in the robbery was a Samsung cellphone, valued at N$500.

"He was talking on the phone. I withdrew a knife and held him with it on the chest and I told him that I want the phone and he begged me not to stab him," Aochamub told the Magistrate when he was asked to describe how the robbery was carried out.

When the Magistrate asked him what he wanted to do with the phone, Aochamub answered: "I wanted to go sell it to buy food and clothes." He said he then sold the phone for N$300, and bought food with the money he received.

Aochamub admitted that he knew he was breaking the law and could be punished for it when he committed the robbery.

Robbery with aggravating circumstances, which combines elements of violence and dishonesty, is a most serious crime, Magistrate Tjatjara told Aochamub during the sentencing.

It is aggravating that robbery is a crime that is planned and that Aochamub used a dangerous weapon to carry out the crime, the Magistrate said. "This court emphasises today that with robbery, robbers reap where they did not plough," he said.

"The vocabulary of our courts to describe the barbaric and repulsive conduct of such unscrupulous criminals is being exhausted because the momentum of violence especially in Windhoek continues unabated," he continued.

"For the public, especially in a city like Windhoek, ravaged by high levels of violent crimes, it is frustrating when people convicted of horrendous crimes receive lenient sentences. A message should be sent that robbery is a most serious crime and the court will not tolerate same," he said.

Aochamub told the court that he is 27 years old, unemployed, not married and not the father of any children. He also said he has a murder charge pending against him. He asked the court to give him a suspended sentence.

What he got instead was a sentence of four years' imprisonment. Salomé Bampton prosecuted. Aochamub was not legally represented during the trial.

 

source.The Namibian (Namibia)