Roland Routh
Windhoek-One of the co-accused of the infamous robber and murderer Paulus Shimweefeleni – also known as ‘Ninja’ – who was sentenced to life imprisonment, plus 20 years, for murder and robbery in 1999 wants the High Court to grant him leave to appeal to the Supreme Court against his conviction and sentence.
Nehemia Manya was convicted alongside Ninja for the robbery and murder of a taxi driver in June 1997. During their heyday, Manya under the leadership of Shimweefeleni was credited with multiple violent robberies, but their criminal enterprise came to an abrupt end after they were convicted by then Judge President Johan Strydom and sentenced to spend the rest of their lives behind bars.
Ninja applied for leave to appeal his sentence in 2011, but Judge Alfred Siboleka refused the application, saying he does not believe another court will come to a different conclusion than the trial court.
Judge Siboleka on Monday postponed Manya’s application to February 2 next year, as the court did not receive his notice of motion in which he has to set out the grounds of his appeal, as well as an application for condonation for the late filing of the appeal.