Mall robbers fail in bid to reduce jail terms
TWO men who took part in a daring shopping centre robbery when they posed as Eskom workers and cut the electricity supply to the mall so that the alarms did not go off, are unhappy with their 20-year jail sentences.
They expected lesser sentences, they said.
Kenneth Walters and David Middelkop turned to the Gauteng High Court in Pretoria to appeal against their sentences after a conviction of murder and robbery. A security guard was killed by the pair’s accomplices during the attack.
Both Walters and Middelkop pleaded guilty earlier to the charges on the doctrine of common purpose. But they said they would never have done so if they knew the charges against them fell under the sentencing regime in which they faced a life sentence.
They argued that they understood their crimes to fall under the regime where the sentence was 15 years or less. The magistrate who sentenced them decided against a life imprisonment term, as he felt there were mitigating factors, and imposed a 20-year effective sentence on each of the men.
Walters and Middelkop admitted that on December 31, 2019, they were part of a gang which robbed shoppers at a shopping centre near Tsakane, Gauteng. The robbers were armed with firearms, and one of them shot and killed a security guard who attempted to foil the robbery.
The two appellants were part of the well-planned robbery and explained that their duty was to pose as Eskom workers while accessing the main electricity supply to the shopping centre.
They used Eskom uniforms and identity cards for this purpose, given to them by the mastermind of the robbery. They then switched off the electricity supply and sealed the electricity box with Eskom seals, so no one else could gain access to it, enabling the rest of the gang to continue the robbery without being hindered by alarms and response units, and with the centre in semi-darkness.
Prior to the two pleading guilty, the magistrate at the time pointed out that the State claimed the murder followed as a result of a common purpose between all the robbers. Thus, the magistrate said, they could face a life sentence and not a 15-year sentence if it was “an ordinary murder”.
The pair went ahead and confessed in detail to what happened on what they called a “mission”. They confirmed that they were part of the “crew” who pulled off the robbery and that their contribution facilitated access to the shopping centre, knowing this would enable the rest of the perpetrators to continue with the robbery, which they did using firearms.
They admitted the deceased had been killed during the robbery in which they had taken part in the furtherance of a common purpose.
Yet after they received 20-year sentences, they said they would have never confessed all if they knew this was to be their fate.
Having regard to the explanation given to them by Acting Judge KJ Mogale before they pleaded as to what the possible sentencing consequences could be, the appellants’ rights to a fair trial in that respect had also not been breached, the judge said, in turning down their appeal.