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From toy boy to million-dollar heist suspect

From toy boy to million-dollar heist suspect

ONE of the key figures in the ranks of the seven men convicted of carrying out a cash-in-transit heist near Windhoek in late 2000 was making a living as a bread salesman and a sugar mommy’s pet at the time of that incident.

Acting High Court Judge Annel Silungwe heard this on Friday when Hyacinth James Ningisa, one of three South African citizens convicted in connection with the N$5,3 million robbery in the Brakwater area on November 17 2000, testified in mitigation of the sentence that Acting Judge Silungwe is set to impose on him and his co-accused. Ningisa (37) was the third of the seven convicted men to give evidence in mitigation of sentence.A fellow South African, Vincent Mabuza (31), followed him into the witness box.By the time that Mabuza had completed giving evidence and the case was postponed to Thursday this week, the court had yet to hear any admission of guilt from any of the convicted men who have so far testified in mitigation of sentence.Ningisa told the court when Deputy Prosecutor General Danie Small pressed him on that issue that he could not agree with his conviction, “because of a lot of irregularities in the trial”.Ningisa has been found guilty of robbery with aggravating circumstances in connection with the heist, on another charge of robbery with aggravating circumstances in connection with an incident on the evening of November 16 2000, when a Nissan bakkie that is claimed to have been used later to carry out the heist was stolen at gunpoint from its owner in Windhoek, and on two counts of illegal possession of a machine gun and ammunition.’I SOLD BREAD AND ESCORTED WOMEN’ Ningisa was plying an unusual vocation around time of the heist, the court heard.Ningisa testified that he was working with a friend who was running a bakery, and that his job was to sell bread to various customers.In addition to that, he was earning money from “moving with” various ladies – they were mostly rich and older, he added – whom he accompanied as an escort, Ningisa related.He listed a number of women with whom he had this sort of relationship – including an Australian woman who he said had “helped” him with R30 000, another in Johannesburg, and another in Pretoria.On average, he was earning around N$20 000 a month from this line of work and the bread sales, he said.Ningisa was the first of the suspected cash-heist robbers to be arrested, on November 17 2000.He was found in a hospital in Windhoek where he was receiving treatment for a gunshot injury to his abdomen – a wound that he sustained in a shoot-out during the robbery, the court found in its verdict.When the stolen bakkie was recovered where it had been abandoned, blood found inside its cabin was linked through DNA testing to Ningisa.MAKING THE CONNECTION Cellphone calls registered between Ningisa’s phone and phones that belonged to some of his co-accused – including Macdonald Kambonde, the driver of the cash-in-transit vehicle targeted during the robbery, a fellow South African, Mike Mabena, and Hendrick Tsibande, of whom a fingerprint was also found inside the bakkie – furthermore linked Ningisa to several of his co-suspects in the case.Yet he could not believe that he had been convicted after more than five years during which he had been denying that he was guilty, Ningisa told the court on Friday.Part of his defence during his trial was that he had been shot accidentally by an acquaintance early on the morning of November 17 2000.In his judgement, Acting Judge Silungwe rejected that claim as fictitious.On Friday, Ningisa told the court that his main problem was the continued presence of the bullet from that event inside his body.He said he was experiencing pain, and had been told that specialist surgery would probably be needed to remove it, since the bullet had lodged in an awkward position next to his spine.MABUZA ‘BAFFLED’ Fellow South African Mabuza told the court on Friday that he felt “very bad” about this conviction, because he was not actually part of the events that the case was about.Mabuza was found guilty of theft.Acting Judge Silungwe accepted evidence that some of the money stolen during the heist was found in a suitcase that belonged to him when he and another four men who were to be prosecuted in connection with the robbery were arrested at a house in Cape Town on November 22 2000.Mabuza said he was making a living as a soccer player at the time of his arrest.When the case returns to court on Thursday, Mabena could be the last of the convicted men to testify in mitigation of sentence.Ningisa (37) was the third of the seven convicted men to give evidence in mitigation of sentence.A fellow South African, Vincent Mabuza (31), followed him into the witness box.By the time that Mabuza had completed giving evidence and the case was postponed to Thursday this week, the court had yet to hear any admission of guilt from any of the convicted men who have so far testified in mitigation of sentence.Ningisa told the court when Deputy Prosecutor General Danie Small pressed him on that issue that he could not agree with his conviction, “because of a lot of irregularities in the trial”.Ningisa has been found guilty of robbery with aggravating circumstances in connection with the heist, on another charge of robbery with aggravating circumstances in connection with an incident on the evening of November 16 2000, when a Nissan bakkie that is claimed to have been used later to carry out the heist was stolen at gunpoint from its owner in Windhoek, and on two counts of illegal possession of a machine gun and ammunition.’I SOLD BREAD AND ESCORTED WOMEN’ Ningisa was plying an unusual vocation around time of the heist, the court heard.Ningisa testified that he was working with a friend who was running a bakery, and that his job was to sell bread to various customers.In addition to that, he was earning money from “moving with” various ladies – they were mostly rich and older, he added – whom he accompanied as an escort, Ningisa related.He listed a number of women with whom he had this sort of relationship – including an Australian woman who he said had “helped” him with R30 000, another in Johannesburg, and another in Pretoria.On average, he was earning around N$20 000 a month from this line of work and the bread sales, he said.Ningisa was the first of the suspected cash-heist robbers to be arrested, on November 17 2000.He was found in a hospital in Windhoek where he was receiving treatment for a gunshot injury to his abdomen – a wound that he sustained in a shoot-out during the robbery, the court found in its verdict.When the stolen bakkie was recovered where it had been abandoned, blood found inside its cabin was linked through DNA testing to Ningisa. MAKING THE CONNECTION Cellphone calls registered between Ningisa’s phone and phones that belonged to some of his co-accused – including Macdonald Kambonde, the driver of the cash-in-transit vehicle targeted during the robbery, a fellow South African, Mike Mabena, and Hendrick Tsibande, of whom a fingerprint was also found inside the bakkie – furthermore linked Ningisa to several of his co-suspects in the case.Yet he could not believe that he had been convicted after more than five years during which he had been denying that he was guilty, Ningisa told the court on Friday.Part of his defence during his trial was that he had been shot accidentally by an acquaintance early on the morning of November 17 2000.In his judgement, Acting Judge Silungwe rejected that claim as fictitious.On Friday, Ningisa told the court that his main problem was the continued presence of the bullet from that event inside his body.He said he was experiencing pain, and had been told that specialist surgery would probably be needed to remove it, since the bullet had lodged in an awkward position next to his spine.MABUZA ‘BAFFLED’ Fellow South African Mabuza told the court on Friday that he felt “very bad” about this conviction, because he was not actually part of the events that the case was about.Mabuza was found guilty of theft.Acting Judge Silungwe accepted evidence that some of the money stolen during the heist was found in a suitcase that belonged to him when he and another four men who were to be prosecuted in connection with the robbery were arrested at a house in Cape Town on November 22 2000.Mabuza said he was making a living as a soccer player at the time of his arrest.When the case returns to court on Thursday, Mabena could be the last of the convicted men to testify in mitigation of sentence.

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