By Roland Routh
WINDHOEK – A Congolese man convicted of dealing in cocaine with an estimated value of close to N$1 million was sentenced to 10 years’ imprisonment in the Windhoek Magistrate’s Court.
Magistrate Ingrid Unengu sentenced Guyslain Kiboti Mosizo – who was in the dock alone after his wife, Elizabeth Paula Pedro, absconded after she was granted bail in July 2011 – to an effective six years in jail when she suspended four years for a period of five years on condition that he is not convicted of a drug-related offence during the period of suspension.
Unengu said drugs have a devastating effect on society and courts are duty bound to protect society from drug dealers.
She agreed with Public Prosecutor Kandiwapa Nangombe that a fine would not satisfy society’s expectations of punishment for such a serious offence. Unengu however said that she took the period Mosizo spent in custody as a trial-awaiting prisoner in consideration when she determined the sentence.
Mosizo and his wife were arrested after police acting on a tipoff discovered 1,6 kg of cocaine at their rented house in Dorado Park on 9 June, 2010. Mosizo’s legal representative, OJ Lino, during his submissions on sentencing asked the court to take the more than four years that his client had been in custody into account when deciding on the sentence.
On her part the prosecutor Nangombe was adamant that a fine would not have the necessary deterrent effect.
She said there was nothing that prohibited the court from sending Mosizo directly to jail. She said drug dealers do not deserve sympathy from the courts and that life is not about taking short cuts and making a quick buck.
Nangombe referred the magistrate to a judgment by Judge Elton Hoff in which he stated “there can be no doubt that dealing in cocaine is a serious crime and that drug dealers are unscrupulous criminals, and further that the courts have a duty to protect members of society from exploitation by these elements.”
She noted the scourge of drug abuse is on the increase in society and the devastating effect of drug abuse on members of the society is there for everyone to see.
According to Nangombe the courts must join forces with law enforcement agencies in combating the evil by imposing harsh sentences on drug dealers and by so doing send “a strong message to drug dealers that they will be dealt with severely”.
Nangombe further noted: “The community has made itself clear often enough through the press and on the streets. It has had enough of drug dealers’ vice-peddling and demands an end to this destructive trade.”
According to Nangombe the court would fail in its duty if it did not send out a strong message to current and future drug dealers that if they do not abandon their trade and profits from cocaine they will be punished to the full extent of the law.
She therefore asked the court to remove Mosizo from society and incarcerate him for the period permitted by law, which is 15 years.
Nangombe used the case of Laizer Kuhlewind who was convicted of raping a seven-year-old girl while under the influence of crack cocaine.
She said Kuhlewind’s argument was that he was so high on the drug that he did not remember anything of the crime he was eventually convicted of.
The police also confiscated US$56 570, N$2 000 and R1 400 from the house of Mosizo.
The prosecutor general later had the seized money declared forfeited to the State under the Prevention of Organised Crime Act (POCA).