Brakwater heist trial moved to prison court

THE high-security court building on the grounds of the Windhoek Central Prison is set to be the location for the last phase of the trial of seven men convicted in connection with a N$5,3 million cash-in-transit heist near Windhoek in late 2000.

Citing “security concerns”, Deputy Prosecutor General Danie Small asked Acting Judge Annel Silungwe on Tuesday to direct that the sentencing phase of the trial should continue tomorrow at the High Court building at the Windhoek Central Prison. No objections were raised and the Acting Judge adjourned the case to tomorrow, when it is set to resume in the courtroom built on the grounds of the Windhoek Central Prison last year and which has since November accommodated only the main Caprivi treason trial.With the resumption of the trial, Acting Judge Silungwe is set to continue hearing evidence in mitigation of the sentences that he is set to impose on the seven men that he convicted on Thursday last week.The men were charged with taking part in an armed robbery in which a then record amount of N$5,3 million was stolen from a cash-in-transit vehicle in the Brakwater area north of Windhoek in the early morning hours of November 17 2000.Ismael Oaeb, who was convicted as an accomplice on a charge of robbery with aggravating circumstances, already testified in mitigation of sentence on Tuesday.The Acting Judge found that a house that Oaeb rented in Windhoek a few weeks before the robbery played “a critical role” in the events around the heist.Among others, it was where Hyacinth James Ningisa, one of the alleged robbers who was wounded in a shootout during the heist, was taken to and received medical treatment after the robbery.Ningisa was convicted as one of the perpetrators of the robbery last week.When the South African Police Service raided a house in Camps Bay, Cape Town, some five days after the heist, Oaeb and four of his co-accused were arrested and a bag was found containing N$909 250 that proved to have been part of the stolen money.Oaeb told the court on Tuesday that he is a reborn Christian.He found himself in court because he had given someone a place to stay, he declared.”I feel very heartbroken, because I am innocent,” he said, adding that it was his attitude of humanity towards a fellow human being that had landed him in the situation that he has been in for the past five years and three months.Oaeb has been in Police custody since his arrest.He told the court that he is 33 years old, unmarried, and the father of five children with five women.He asked the court to give him a suspended sentence so that he could “go out and teach the nation” what he had learnt in the meantime – which would mainly be a message of love, he indicated.No objections were raised and the Acting Judge adjourned the case to tomorrow, when it is set to resume in the courtroom built on the grounds of the Windhoek Central Prison last year and which has since November accommodated only the main Caprivi treason trial.With the resumption of the trial, Acting Judge Silungwe is set to continue hearing evidence in mitigation of the sentences that he is set to impose on the seven men that he convicted on Thursday last week.The men were charged with taking part in an armed robbery in which a then record amount of N$5,3 million was stolen from a cash-in-transit vehicle in the Brakwater area north of Windhoek in the early morning hours of November 17 2000.Ismael Oaeb, who was convicted as an accomplice on a charge of robbery with aggravating circumstances, already testified in mitigation of sentence on Tuesday.The Acting Judge found that a house that Oaeb rented in Windhoek a few weeks before the robbery played “a critical role” in the events around the heist.Among others, it was where Hyacinth James Ningisa, one of the alleged robbers who was wounded in a shootout during the heist, was taken to and received medical treatment after the robbery.Ningisa was convicted as one of the perpetrators of the robbery last week.When the South African Police Service raided a house in Camps Bay, Cape Town, some five days after the heist, Oaeb and four of his co-accused were arrested and a bag was found containing N$909 250 that proved to have been part of the stolen money.Oaeb told the court on Tuesday that he is a reborn Christian.He found himself in court because he had given someone a place to stay, he declared.”I feel very heartbroken, because I am innocent,” he said, adding that it was his attitude of humanity towards a fellow human being that had landed him in the situation that he has been in for the past five years and three months.Oaeb has been in Police custody since his arrest.He told the court that he is 33 years old, unmarried, and the father of five children with five women.He asked the court to give him a suspended sentence so that he could “go out and teach the nation” what he had learnt in the meantime – which would mainly be a message of love, he indicated.