The Supreme Court has increased the sentences of three former Windhoek City Police officers convicted of murdering a teenage theft suspect in April 2013.
The sentences of former police officers Werner Johannes Shetekela, Kleopas Kapalanga and Elia Nakale were increased from an effective 10 years’ imprisonment each to 18 years in prison in a judgement delivered in the Supreme Court on Friday.
The state appealed against the three men’s sentences after their trial was concluded in the Windhoek High Court in July 2020.
The three former police officers were found guilty of murdering a 17-year-old Windhoek resident, Mandela Ramakutla, who died in a hospital in the city on 24 April 2013.
Ramakutla died eight days after he had been seriously assaulted by the three city police officers, who were suspecting him of having been involved in the theft of cellphones at the City of Windhoek’s head office.
In their trial in the High Court, Shetekela, Kapalanga and Nakale were convicted of murder committed without a direct intention to kill.
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