Suspended sentence for illegal border crossing at Noordoewer

A YOUNG man, who had crossed the border into South Africa at Noordoewer in March by concealing himself in the undercarriage of a truck, got off lightly when he received a suspended sentence for illegal border crossing.

Saddam Josef (19) was given a wholly suspended three-month prison sentence in the Karasburg Magistrate’s Court on Monday.On a second charge of giving false information to immigration officers, Josef received another suspended three-month sentence. It was alleged that Josef had presented himself as Demsi Martins to law-enforcement officers at the time of his arrest in Springbok, South Africa, at the end of September.Josef had pleaded guilty to both counts.He testified that he had slipped out of the country by hiding in the space where the truck’s spare wheel is located.According to Josef, he got onto the truck at Keetmanshoop and travelled all the way to Citrusdal in South Africa, from where he hitch-hiked to Cape Town. Josef conducted his own defence. State Prosecutor Ludwina Mudumbi prosecuted.