Heist ‘mastermind’ sticks to claims of innocence

“TECHNICALITIES” are the reason why he has been convicted of a N$5,3 million cash-in-transit heist carried out near Windhoek in November 2000, the man who has been described as the mastermind of that robbery claimed in the High Court in Windhoek late last week.

On Thursday, Mike Sandile Mabena was the last of the seven men that Acting Judge Annel Silungwe convicted two weeks ago to give evidence in mitigation of the sentences that will be imposed. The seven are scheduled to appear again in the high-security High Court building on the grounds of the Windhoek Central Prison on Friday this week.Deputy Prosecutor General Danie Small, defence counsel Winnie Christians, Lucius Murorua and Jorge Neves, and Mabena, who is representing himself, are then set to address the court with their final arguments on sentencing.Mabena and the six men remaining in the dock with him have been found guilty on charges connected with a then record-setting armed robbery in which N$5,3 million was stolen from a cash-in-transit vehicle after it had been forced off the road in the Brakwater area north of Windhoek around 01h30 on November 17 2000.Of the load of cash stolen during the robbery, some N$4,1 million has still not been recovered by the Police.Mabena and three of the other men were arrested in Cape Town five days after the robbery.In the house where they were arrested, Police officers discovered N$909 250 in cash.Through their serial numbers, the banknotes were linked to the load that was being transported by the cash-in-transit vehicle that was targeted in the heist.Cellphone records that reflected various calls between a phone number that was claimed to have been used by Mabena and numbers used by some of his co-accused connected them to each other.In addition to other circumstantial evidence, this connected them to the heist and another robbery in which a bakkie that was used in the heist was stolen in Windhoek the previous evening, Acting Judge Silungwe found in his verdict.He convicted Mabena on two counts of robbery with aggravating circumstances and two charges of illegal possession of a machine gun and ammunition.Mabena told the court yesterday that he had been convicted “because of technicalities”.He was unhappy with the court’s judgement, and wanted a chance to appeal against it, Mabena told the Judge.The convictions that the court arrived at in its judgement were based on “circumstantial evidence, speculations and more speculations”, Mabena said, before Acting Judge Silungwe cut him short and told him that his decision had not been founded on speculation.But Mabena pressed on.He told Acting Judge Silungwe that the court had mentioned in its judgement that there was no conclusive proof that Mabena had been at the scene of the crime when the heist was executed – yet the Judge also stated, without evidence to back that up, Mabena claimed, that he suspected that Mabena had been the mastermind behind the crime.After his arrest in Cape Town, Mabena resisted legal moves to have him extradited to Namibia to be charged and prosecuted in connection with the heist.Just like Acting Judge Silungwe’s verdict in which he was judged guilty, a Cape Town Magistrate’s ruling that allowed his extradition was also based on “technicalities”, Mabena reasoned on Thursday.He continued to fight the extradition proceedings through an appeal to the Cape High Court, which he lost, before he was returned to Namibia in September 2002, Mabena said.”I was exercising my rights,” he commented.”I am a family man”, Mabena told the court, saying he was self-employed, making a living from two minibus taxis and from buying smashed cars and fixing them up before reselling them, at the time of his arrest.He said he is 38 years old, married in common law, has six children – of which two are with his wife – and that his youngest child is a girl who is now four years and some months old and who lives in Namibia.His girlfriend was three months pregnant with this child when he was arrested, he said.The seven are scheduled to appear again in the high-security High Court building on the grounds of the Windhoek Central Prison on Friday this week.Deputy Prosecutor General Danie Small, defence counsel Winnie Christians, Lucius Murorua and Jorge Neves, and Mabena, who is representing himself, are then set to address the court with their final arguments on sentencing.Mabena and the six men remaining in the dock with him have been found guilty on charges connected with a then record-setting armed robbery in which N$5,3 million was stolen from a cash-in-transit vehicle after it had been forced off the road in the Brakwater area north of Windhoek around 01h30 on November 17 2000.Of the load of cash stolen during the robbery, some N$4,1 million has still not been recovered by the Police.Mabena and three of the other men were arrested in Cape Town five days after the robbery.In the house where they were arrested, Police officers discovered N$909 250 in cash.Through their serial numbers, the banknotes were linked to the load that was being transported by the cash-in-transit vehicle that was targeted in the heist.Cellphone records that reflected various calls between a phone number that was claimed to have been used by Mabena and numbers used by some of his co-accused connected them to each other.In addition to other circumstantial evidence, this connected them to the heist and another robbery in which a bakkie that was used in the heist was stolen in Windhoek the previous evening, Acting Judge Silungwe found in his verdict.He convicted Mabena on two counts of robbery with aggravating circumstances and two charges of illegal possession of a machine gun and ammunition.Mabena told the court yesterday that he had been convicted “because of technicalities”.He was unhappy with the court’s judgement, and wanted a chance to appeal against it, Mabena told the Judge.The convictions that the court arrived at in its judgement were based on “circumstantial evidence, speculations and more speculations”, Mabena said, before Acting Judge Silungwe cut him short and told him that his decision had not been founded on speculation.But Mabena pressed on.He told Acting Judge Silungwe that the court had mentioned in its judgement that there was no conclusive proof that Mabena had been at the scene of the crime when the heist was executed – yet the Judge also stated, without evidence to back that up, Mabena claimed, that he suspected that Mabena had been the mastermind behind the crime.After his arrest in Cape Town, Mabena resisted legal moves to have him extradited to Namibia to be charged and prosecuted in connection with the heist.Just like Acting Judge Silungwe’s verdict in which he was judged guilty, a Cape Town Magistrate’s ruling that allowed his extradition was also based on “technicalities”, Mabena reasoned on Thursday.He continued to fight the extradition proceedings through an appeal to the Cape High Court, which he lost, before he was returned to Namibia in September 2002, Mabena said.”I was exercising my rights,” he commented.”I am a family man”, Mabena told the court, saying he was self-employed, making a living from two minibus taxis and from buying smashed cars and fixing them up before reselling them, at the time of his arrest.He said he is 38 years old, married in common law, has six children – of which two are with his wife – and that his youngest child is a girl who is now four years and some months old and who lives in Namibia.His girlfriend was three months pregnant with this child when he was arrested, he said.