12 years for stealing paramedic’s cellphone

PARAMEDICS were overjoyed after the Khayelitsha Magistrate’s Court handed Siphelo Manunga a 12-year sentence for robbing a paramedic of her cellphone in Mandela Park in Khayelitsha last December.

Manunga’s conviction was the first following the persistent robbing of paramedics while they were executing their duties in various areas in the province.

Three other cases are still pending in various courts.

In handing down the sentence, magistrate Allen Boswell said he had decided to deviate from the minimum sentence prescribed in the amended Criminal Procedure Act, which was 15 years.

This was because the accused had substantial and compelling circumstances.

These were that he was still young, he was a firsttime offender, he had pleaded guilty and shown remorse, and the cellphone had been recovered.

Manunga robbed Nonzwakazi Mkungela while she and a colleague were helping a bleeding woman on the side of the road. Mkungela’s cellphone was taken.

After the attack she took four months’ stress leave.

Boswell said robbery was a serious offence, especially that of cellphones from vulnerable women.

He said EMS provincial chief Pumzile Papu testified in court last week that “the number of ambulances operating in the metro has declined”.

Khayelitsha district EMS manager Lynold Griffiths, who was with about 20 other paramedics in court, said he welcomed the sentence, which would send a strong message to would-be criminals.

“The message is that the perpetrators should leave us alone because we are trying to render a service to vulnerable people,” said Griffiths.

Community Safety MEC Dan Plato said: “Key to this sentence is the fact that the court recognised the impact such attacks have on the ability of the Western Cape government to provide critical services, especially to poor communities.”