Sheryl Cwele and her co-accused received 12 years, despite the minimum sentence suitable for the crime being 15 years
|||Sheryl Cwele, the wife of the state security minister, and her Nigerian co-accused Frank Nabolisa will appeal their drug dealing convictions, the Pietermaritzburg High Court heard on Friday.
Nabolisa and Cwele, the wife of minister Siyabonga Cwele, were sentenced to 12 years by the Pietermaritzburg High Court on Friday.
The pair’s application for leave to appeal was granted by Judge Piet Koen and their appeal will be heard in the Supreme Court of Appeal in Bloemfontein.
Cwele, 50, wants to appeal her conviction only while Nabolisa wants to appeal both his conviction and sentence.
Nabolisa, who has been in police custody for 15 months, will remain in custody and Cwele’s R100,000 bail was extended.
Koen said Nabolisa and Cwele faced a serious offence.
“Many families are affected by drugs which are brought here illegally. They suffer as a result of dealers who often initiate addiction by constant supply and thrive on that addiction.”
The judge said he had considered the fact that the two were first timeoffenders and that they had good prospects of being rehabilitated.
The minimum sentence suitable for the offence they committed was 15 years, the court heard. He said the sentence suitable for Cwele and Nabolisa was one which would act as deterrent to other people considering dealing and importation of drugs.
In argument regarding the sentencing, Ngubane asked the court to give her a lesser sentence 1/8than the minimum 3/8 , saying that it was likely his client was influenced by Nabolisa to get involved in drug dealing.
Koen responded by saying the issue of being influenced would have been taken as a mitigating issue had Cwele showed remorse.
Both Cwele and Nabolisa pleaded not guilty of dealing or conspiring to deal in drugs, procuring a woman, Charmaine Moss, to collect drugs in Turkey, and procuring another woman, Tessa Beetge, to smuggle cocaine from South America.
Beetge, of the KwaZulu-Natal south coast, was arrested when 10.3kg of cocaine was found in her luggage in Brazil in 2008 and is serving a seven-year jail sentence in Sao Paolo.
Moss, who was told to go overseas and pick up a parcel with unspecified contents, turned down the offer when she suspected something was amiss. She turned State's witness.
Finding Cwele and Nabolisa guilty on Thursday, Koen said it was clear they worked together to recruit two women to work as agents to transport drugs.
Koen said he had granted leave for appeal because he felt that there was a possibility that another court would come with a different verdict.
His ruling was based on circumstantial evidence, he said.
There was a solemn atmosphere at the Pietermaritzburg High Court when Cwele and Nabolisa arrived for the sentencing. The mood changed when the court granted them leave to appeal.
Cwele, her friends and relatives gathered and prayed outside the court room after the court proceedings.
He husband (the minister) was not in court on Friday. He only attended the bail application early last year. They all refused to comment on the sentencing. -
Sapa
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