House robber gets four-year jail term

Werner Menges

WINDHOEK Regional Court Magistrate Dinnah Usiku on Friday told a Windhoek resident whom she sentenced to a four-year jail term for burglary and robbery that society needed protection from people of his kind.

Magistrate Usiku sentenced Ephras Kakola to seven years’ imprisonment, of which three years were suspended for a period of five years on condition that he is not convicted of housebreaking with intent to rob and robbery, committed during the period of suspension.

Kakola (27) was convicted of breaking into a Pionierspark home in the early morning hours of 19 March 2010 and violently attacking a sleeping couple in their bedroom.

Kakola and his gang, some of whom are still at large, made off with loot including two cellphones, an iPod music player and a wallet all valued at about N$21 000.

The court heard that the gang gained entry into the house after forcing open a small window next to the front door of the house.

After entering the couple’s bedroom, they assaulted their victims, knocking them unconscious, by hitting them with a brick or a metal bar over their heads. The couple was left injured and bleeding, with injuries to their heads.

Kakola was arrested a few days after the crime when a police officer investigating the case traced one of the stolen cellphones to a schoolboy who then told the officer that he had bought the phone from someone. The seller of the phone in turn said Kakola had asked him to sell the phone on his behalf. When arrested, Kakola was found in possession of some of the couple’s stolen bank cards.

Magistrate Ingrid Unengu convicted Kakola in the Windhoek Magistrate’s Court, but because of the seriousness of the crime, the case was transferred to the Regional Court for sentencing in February. While passing sentence, Magistrate Usiku noted that Kakola had already spent a year and 10 months behind bars, but said that a period of imprisonment would be the only suitable sentence for that sort of crime.

Society needs to be protected from people of Kakola’s calibre, the magistrate said. Kakola continued to insist on his innocence throughout his trial, and also in the Regional Court, where he still told Magistrate Usiku that he knew nothing about the case in which he had been charged and convicted. The evidence against Kakola also included a statement he made to a police officer after his arrest, in which he related that he had gone to the house of the complainants with an accomplice, and that they then broke in and robbed the couple. He had previously once worked at the same house by cleaning the yard for the owners, Kakola stated.