Johannesburg - Convicted terrorist Henry Okah and his wife Azukah share a “forever kind of love”.
So said Azukah on Tuesday, minutes after Johannesburg High Court Judge Neels Claassen sentenced Okah to an effective 24 years in prison.
She stood, downcast, outside court 2D, twisting her gold wedding ring on a slender finger as she struggled to find the words to comment on the sentence.
“Henry is a forever kind of guy… he is loyal and faithful. What we have is forever,” she finally said, smiling weakly. She admitted she had hoped for a shorter sentence. “I did have my expectations… but the next step is definitely an appeal.”
Okah was convicted on 13 counts of terrorism and terrorism-related activities in January after being connected to two twin-car bombings in Warri, Nigeria, on March 15, 2010 and in Abuja on the country’s Independence Day – October 1 – that same year.
Judge Claassen found that Okah had organised, funded and orchestrated the bombings from his home in Bassonia, Joburg.
He had also gone to Nigeria, where he helped assemble the dynamite used in the car bombs.
Okah was charged and convicted in South Africa under the Protection of Constitutional Democracy Against Terrorist and Related Activities Act 33 of 2004, a mechanism enabling compliance with international counter-terrorism resolutions.
The judge also found Okah was the leader of the rebel militant group, the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, which took responsibility for the spate of attacks on foreign oil companies in the Delta, as well as the four bombings.
Okah denied throughout his trial that he led the group and that he was involved in any way in the bombings.
And despite the State making a compelling argument that he should be jailed for life, Judge Claassen said he found there was substantial and compelling evidence to deviate from that sentence.
“The offences were motivated by a political desire to improve the living conditions of people living in the Delta, albeit the motivation to resort to violence may have been misguided. However, the purpose of it (bombings) was to draw attention to the pollution and lack of infrastructure.”
The judge said the fact that Okah, 48, had no previous convictions meant that, for a substantial portion of his life, he “steered clear of criminal activity”.
“Another remaining factor which justifies departure from minimum sentence is that the accused was regarded by those in Nigeria as a strong leader… Mr (Elder)Orubebe (a witness in the trial) went so far as to say that should the accused renounce violence, the government of Nigeria would be happy to welcome him back with open arms…
“The evidence also disclosed… that he was otherwise a good man, willing to help people, albeit there were always strings attached,” Judge Claassen said.
And while eight people died in the Independence Day bombings in Abuja and one man died in Warri, he said each case had to be viewed on its own merits in determining sentencing.
“This is not an easy matter to pass an appropriate sentence… I’ve had many months to consider what an appropriate sentence should be and have anxiously considered an appropriate sentence,” he said.
Okah was sentenced to 12 years for the Warri bombings and another 12 for the Abuja bombings; these sentences will run consecutively. He was given a further 10 years for threats made to South African businesses in Nigeria – to run concurrently with the Abuja sentence. The effective sentence is thus 24 years.
Phindi Louw, the National Prosecuting Authority’s regional spokeswoman, said the State was pleased the case had been finalised, and while they accepted the sentence, they would now consider the possibility of appealing against it, as prosecutor Shaun Abrahams had called for Okah to be imprisoned for life.
Meanwhile, Azukah – with her family and friends who had come to support – said that telling their four children the verdict was what she was most anxious about.
“The kids are who I’m worried about… I don’t know how to tell them,” she said.
The Star