Windhoek
Magistrate Verinao Kamahene presiding in the Windhoek Magistrates’ Court recently gave jail sentences of two years each to two men convicted of unlawful housebreaking.
The two men convicted of housebreaking are Nghilila Nghifikwa, 36, and Josef Andrea Hefao Modestu, 21. They appeared in court and indicated they would defend themselves. They were warned by the magistrate that they were facing a serious matter, but they insisted that they would conduct their own defence.
Both men pleaded guilty and were sentenced two years in prison for unlawfully breaking into a house and stealing a television, radio, a Singer sewing machine, a needlework machine, a silver safety box containing coins and jewellery and a microwave from a house in Pionerspark.
“We climbed the walls of the yard and we found a sliding door slightly closed and pulled it to the side by opening it and entered the hose,” the men replied when asked how they entered the house. “We wanted to steal whatever we could find,” they added.
Nghifikwa informed the court he can pay a fine of N$1 000, while Modestu said he can pay a fine of N$2 000. Prosecutor Amize Adams told the court that the crime of house breaking was very serious and very prevalent “in our courts.”
“Society expects that those that violate the laws of the country are punished. It is the fear of punishment that maintains an orderly society,” the prosecutor added. Adams explained, “the punishment imposed by this court today must serve two distinct, but wide-ranging roles: individual deterrence as well as general deterrence.”
Perpetrators should know that the norm is imprisonment without the option of a fine, unless the circumstances of a particular case justify the imposition of a lesser sentence, Adams said. Magistrate Kamahene informed the two men that they have a right to appeal against the conviction and/or the resultant sentence within 14 days.