Appeal by mall robbers to reduce sentences fails

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 the alarms did not go off, are unhappy with their 20-year jail sentences.

According to them, they expected a lesser sentence.

Kenneth Walters and David Middelkop turned to the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria to appeal against their sentences following 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 that the charges against them fell under the sentencing regime in which they faced a life sentence.

They argued that they understood their crimes fell 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 them.

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, 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 alarms.

Acting Judge KJ Mogale turned down their appeal.