Cape Town - A Cape Town man has been sentenced to 15 years in jail for robbing three women of their cellphones and threatening them with a toy gun on New Year’s Day last year.
Thabo Meli, 25, of Langa was arrested within hours of the robbery when his victims spotted him in Long Street.
The court heard that three friends were walking along Victoria Road in Camps Bay around 10.30pm when Meli and two accomplices approached them.
Meli threatened them with the toy gun and demanded they hand over their cellphones. He smacked one of the women, after she threw her cellphone on the ground for him to pick up.
After handing over their phones, the women reported the case to police.
Around 2am, they were in Long Street and spotted the men who had robbed them.
A security guard was alerted and Meli was arrested, but his accomplices got away. While waiting for police, Meli tried to take apart the toy gun.
On Friday, the prosecution revealed that he had 13 previous convictions, including housebreaking with the intent to steal and theft, robbery, the illegal possession of drugs and absconding.
In sentencing Meli, magistrate Wilma van der Merwe remarked that he was not a stranger to the inside of a courtroom.
“Your previous convictions are of the greatest concern. You have received all types of sentences and nothing deterred you,” Van der Merwe said.
“This is the 10th time you are in court for a crime of dishonesty and the second time for a crime of violence. This type of crime is very prevalent in this court’s jurisdiction. Adults like you seek out soft targets – girls and schoolchildren – and rob them of their cellphones,” Van der Merwe said.
Van der Merwe told Meli it was not in the interest of society for others to walk around with “people like you thinking they have the right to take [their possessions] from them”.
Van der Merwe found that Meli had not shown exceptional and compelling circumstances to justify a deviation from the prescribed minimum sentence of 15 years in jail for aggravated robbery.
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