The Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) has upheld, in part, an appeal against the decision by the same court dismissing an application by Thembinkosi Mekuto regarding his sentence for a spate of charges relating to an armed robbery at a bank in Hermanus 15 years ago.
Mekuto was one of five men who were sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder of a security guard outside a bank in Hermanus. The incident took place in December 2007, where the guard was shot in the head and chest and died on the scene.
The five men were carrying firearms when they approached two security guards on duty while they were transporting money to a bank. One of the guards was shot at close range while the other escaped unscathed, saved by the metal plate of his bulletproof vest.
The five men were apprehended by police, charged and tried at the Western Cape High Court where they were convicted and sentenced to 15 years imprisonment for attempted murder, 15 years for robbery with aggravating circumstances and 15 years for unlawful possession of firearms and ammunition and life imprisonment for murder.
Mekuto tried to appeal his sentence at the Western Cape High Court but was unsuccessful. He then approached the SCA in 2020 and his application was again dismissed.
This led to his application for reconsideration at the SCA to determine whether the court should have found that there were reasonable prospects of success and exceptional circumstances to allow for special leave to appeal against Mekuto’s sentences.
The SCA however was not swayed and found there were indeed no exceptional or compelling circumstances that would warrant a deviation from the prescribed minimum sentence imposed by the high court.
The SCA held that the previous decision by the same court correctly refused Mekuto’s application for leave to appeal against the sentence imposed.
Mekuto was granted some respite however with regards to his sentence for attempted murder. The court found that Mekuto’s level of participation in relation to the attempted murder was more culpable and therefore granted him a reduced sentence of 10 years imprisonment.