Notorious criminal gets 26 years off jail term

IOL wld feb11 prison bars

AFP

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Convicted robber Musa Dlamini, who was once one of Durban’s most wanted criminals, will be out of jail much sooner than expected.

The Supreme Court of Appeal has drastically reduced his 43-year prison term to 17 years.

Dlamini, 32, was convicted by the Pinetown Regional Court in 2003 on three counts of robbery, one of vehicle theft and two of unlawful possession of a firearm and ammunition.

He was sentenced to 15 years on each of two counts of robbery, and 10 years for the third. He was given three years for unlawful possession of a firearm and ammunition and two years for vehicle theft.

The magistrate ordered that Dlamini serve his sentences consecutively, sending him to jail for 45 years.

One of the charges related to three women being robbed in a home in April 2002.

Dlamini gained notoriety when he escaped from the court’s holding cells.

The police’s serious and violent crimes unit placed him on their most wanted list as “highly dangerous” and it was 20 days before he was caught.

He appealed against his convictions and sentences.

Judge Trevor Gorven, who heard the appeal in the Pietermaritzburg High Court, set aside his conviction and sentence for vehicle theft citing insufficient evidence but upheld the others and sentences.

Dlamini then appealed against his sentence to the Supreme Court of Appeal.

Judge Azhar Cachalia, with four judges concurring, found on Tuesday that Dlamini should have been charged with one count of robbery, not three.

He found that, in sentencing, Dlamini’s personal circumstances had not been taken into account, including that he was orphaned at a young age, was fairly young and had no previous convictions.

Also, while Dlamini was guilty of a serious offence, he had not “directed any physical violence” at his victims.

The judge said the magistrate had apparently misunderstood how he should sentence Dlamini or that he had the discretion to impose a lesser sentence than the law’s minimum of 15 years.

“It seems the magistrate’s unexplained premise for ordering the sentences to run consecutively was his erroneous assumption that the minimum sentence regime required this.” – The Mercury

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Notorious criminal gets 26 years off jail term