‘Amateur’ robber’s sentence reduced MyZA

March 30 2012 at 08:51am
By Tania Broughton

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A man who “amateurishly” robbed two foreign tourists attending the World Anti-Racism Conference at Durban’s International Convention Centre has had almost half of his 20 year sentence cut off by the Supreme Court of Appeal.

Because Sanele Zondo has already spent 10 years in jail, it means he should be released soon. Zondo’s case was taken up by advocate Adrian Collingwood, who stumbled across it when Zondo unsuccessfully appealed against his conviction and sentence before two judges in the Natal Provincial Division.

Collingwood argued in a petition to the court that Zondo had been wrongly convicted of robbery with aggravating circumstances because he had not used a knife to threaten his victims, but to slit the strap of a sling bag.

However, the court granted leave only to appeal against his sentence and this week five judges said the effective 20-year sentence imposed in the Durban regional court in 2003 was too harsh and changed it to one of 12 years.

In the ruling, Judge Zukisa Tshiqi said the evidence against Zondo was that he and others had robbed two Filipinos as they walked to the ICC. He robbed the woman of her handbag and fled while another man attempted, but failed, to rob the man of his backpack. A member of the public alerted two police officers who arrested Zondo.

The judge said the trial court had accepted the evidence of the complainant that she had been traumatised by the attack, the prevalence of the crime and also its impact on the SA tourism industry.

“These should not have been the only considerations taken into account. There are mitigating factors. No injuries were sustained, the bag was recovered and none of its contents was missing.

“There is no evidence that the male colleague was subjected to any physical harm. The whole incident was perpetrated in an amateurish manner and hastily.

“A sentence of 20 years imprisonment is a very severe punishment which should ordinarily be reserved for particularly heinous offences,” the judge said.