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Thursday, January 27, 2005 - Web posted at 7:30:44 GMT Karibib plane heist convict's second appeal attempt fails WERNER MENGESONE of the men convicted four years ago of what was then the largest armed robbery yet in Namibia last week failed with a second bid to be allowed to appeal against his conviction or sentence. |
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Businessman Joseph Daniel ("Joey") du Plessis was 42 years old when he heard from Judge Gerhard Maritz on September 28 2000 that he was being sentenced to 19 years' imprisonment for his role in an armed robbery in which a then record of N$4,5 million was stolen from a cash-delivery aeroplane that had landed at the Karibib air field on September 30 1998. Almost four years and four months later, on Tuesday last week, Du Plessis again faced Judge Maritz in the High Court in Windhoek, to hear that a second application from him to be allowed to appeal to the Supreme Court had also been dismissed. Judge Maritz turned down a first application from Du Plessis for leave to appeal against his sentence in October 2001. Last week, he also dismissed an application from Du Plessis for leave to appeal against his conviction on a charge of robbery with aggravating circumstances. With that, the only remaining avenue for Du Plessis if he wants to pursue an appeal would be to petition the Chief Justice to be given leave to appeal. A previous petition to the Chief Justice for leave to appeal against his sentence has however already been refused. Not only had Du Plessis's second bid to be allowed to appeal to the Supreme Court against his conviction been filed more than three years too late, for reasons which Judge Maritz did not find acceptable last week, but the Judge also decided that Du Plessis's intended appeal would in any event not have reasonable prospects of success in the Supreme Court. Du Plessis had denied the charge that he was involved in the robbery. He was however found guilty on the basis of evidence that he was arrested near Omaruru shortly after the heist while travelling in the same vehicle as three co-suspects and future co-convicts - one of whom had made the almost comical but nevertheless fatal mistake of leaving a belt with his name written on it at the scene of the robbery. Other evidence that the Judge found had implicated Du Plessis were phone records that showed that around the time of the robbery a flurry of cellphone calls were made between phones belonging to Du Plessis and another suspect, former Policeman Norman Engelbrecht, who was arrested in the Spitzkoppe area, where the stolen money was also found hidden. One of South Africa's top experts in the field of criminal law, senior counsel Etienne du Toit, argued the second appeal application on behalf of Du Plessis. His argument was that Du Plessis should actually have been convicted of theft instead of robbery with aggravating circumstances. |
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