5 guilty of N$1,5 m highway robbery

FIVE of the seven people on trial for a N$1,5 million cash-in-transit heist near Ondangwa in November 2002 were convicted in the High Court in Windhoek yesterday.

Joseph Joseph (‘JJ’) Kagamenwa, a security guard travelling in a cash-in-transit vehicle of Rubicon Security Services when it was robbed on the road between Oshikango and Ondangwa on November 8 2002, has been found guilty of robbery with aggravating circumstances and conspiracy to commit robbery in the verdict delivered by Acting Judge Christie Liebenberg yesterday. Also convicted on those two charges was one of Kagamenwa’s six co-accused, Jesaja Shigwedha.Another of the accused, Alfeus Akawa Shikongo, was convicted only on the charge of conspiracy to commit robbery.Two of the other accused, Andreas Henock, the elder brother of Shigwedha, and Johanna Wilbard, a sister of Kagamenwa, were found guilty of being accessories after the fact to the crime of robbery with aggravating circumstances.Money that was alleged to have been stolen during the robbery was later found where Henock and Wilbard had hidden it in Windhoek and at a village in the Omusati Region respectively.Acting Judge Liebenberg acquitted another two of the accused, Damian Veiko Kashuku Dengu and Moses Amupolo, on all charges.Kagamenwa, Shikongo, Shigwedha and also Dengu and Amupolo were accused of being part of a conspiracy that was hatched during October 2002 to rob a Rubicon Security Services crew while the latter was transporting money on behalf of clients of the security company.On November 8 2002, Kagamenwa and a colleague were driving back to Ondangwa after they had picked up cash from clients of Rubicon Security Services at Oshikango, when they saw someone dressed in a Rubicon guard uniform standing next to the road.They stopped to pick up this supposedly hitch-hiking colleague, who then promptly attacked them with pepper spray, setting in motion the robbery.According to Kagamenwa’s colleague, the robbery was carried out by four assailants.They left the scene with more than N$1,516 million in cash, in both Namibian and foreign currency.Three and a half months after the robbery, on February 21 2003, Wilbard directed the police to the place near her home in a village in the Omusati Region where US$17 100 had been buried underground.She told the Police that her brother, Kagamenwa, had asked her to hide this money for him.Acting Judge Liebenberg found that this had been part of the money stolen during the robbery.Money had also been found buried under an outside shower at Henock’s home in Windhoek at the end of December 2002.This money – consisting of US$56 000 and 49 550 Namibia dollars and South African rand – had also been part of the stolen cash, Acting Judge Liebenberg further found.The five convicted suspects are set to return to court today for the hearing of evidence and arguments before they are sentenced.State advocate Ed Marondedze is prosecuting.Defence lawyer Lucia Hamutenya has been representing Shikongo and the acquitted Dengu and Amupolo.Bradley Basson is appearing for Kagamenwa, Shigwedha, Henock and Wilbard.Also convicted on those two charges was one of Kagamenwa’s six co-accused, Jesaja Shigwedha.Another of the accused, Alfeus Akawa Shikongo, was convicted only on the charge of conspiracy to commit robbery.Two of the other accused, Andreas Henock, the elder brother of Shigwedha, and Johanna Wilbard, a sister of Kagamenwa, were found guilty of being accessories after the fact to the crime of robbery with aggravating circumstances.Money that was alleged to have been stolen during the robbery was later found where Henock and Wilbard had hidden it in Windhoek and at a village in the Omusati Region respectively.Acting Judge Liebenberg acquitted another two of the accused, Damian Veiko Kashuku Dengu and Moses Amupolo, on all charges.Kagamenwa, Shikongo, Shigwedha and also Dengu and Amupolo were accused of being part of a conspiracy that was hatched during October 2002 to rob a Rubicon Security Services crew while the latter was transporting money on behalf of clients of the security company.On November 8 2002, Kagamenwa and a colleague were driving back to Ondangwa after they had picked up cash from clients of Rubicon Security Services at Oshikango, when they saw someone dressed in a Rubicon guard uniform standing next to the road.They stopped to pick up this supposedly hitch-hiking colleague, who then promptly attacked them with pepper spray, setting in motion the robbery.According to Kagamenwa’s colleague, the robbery was carried out by four assailants.They left the scene with more than N$1,516 million in cash, in both Namibian and foreign currency.Three and a half months after the robbery, on February 21 2003, Wilbard directed the police to the place near her home in a village in the Omusati Region where US$17 100 had been buried underground.She told the Police that her brother, Kagamenwa, had asked her to hide this money for him.Acting Judge Liebenberg found that this had been part of the money stolen during the robbery.Money had also been found buried under an outside shower at Henock’s home in Windhoek at the end of December 2002.This money – consisting of US$56 000 and 49 550 Namibia dollars and South African rand – had also been part of the stolen cash, Acting Judge Liebenberg further found.The five convicted suspects are set to return to court today for the hearing of evidence and arguments before they are sentenced.State advocate Ed Marondedze is prosecuting.Defence lawyer Lucia Hamutenya has been representing Shikongo and the acquitted Dengu and Amupolo.Bradley Basson is appearing for Kagamenwa, Shigwedha, Henock and Wilbard.