Cape Town - There was no family present to aid or support a 36-year-old homeless man who was sentenced to 13 years imprisonment in the Cape Town Regional Court.
Cedric Booysen was charged for robbery with aggravating circumstances after he held Thuso Mnisi, 22, at knifepoint on September 23 2021 in Table View and took his bicycle, backpack and cellphone valued at R28 500.
Booysen pleaded guilty to the offence and subsequently entered a plea and sentence agreement with the State.
He was sentenced to 13 years imprisonment with three years suspended, making it an effective sentence of 10 years imprisonment.
No stranger to the criminal justice system, his circumstances and his previous offences were considered by the magistrate before he was sentenced.
He had been in and out of court for offences of a similar nature dating back to 2006, these include: theft, housebreaking and theft and car theft.
Booysen had been living in a tent behind Bayside Mall at the time of the incident and was unable to provide the court with a fixed address.
In his admission of guilt, he said, on the day in question he was leaving his tent when he saw Mnisi on the bicycle.
He stood in front of Mnisi and pointed the knife at him.
“He stopped in front of me and got off his bicycle.
“I ordered him to hand over his bicycle to me which he did while I was wielding the knife at him,” he said.
He said he rode off with the bicycle, the backpack and the cellphone with the intention of permanently depriving Mnisi of his property.
He was arrested after Mnisi pointed him out in Dunoon.
Mnisi was present to tell the court what he experienced and was still traumatised by the incident, he was apprehensive about testifying but relieved that he didn’t have to.