Cape Town - Convicted drug and abalone smuggler Kiyaam Rinquest will have to serve an effective 28 years behind bars after two Western Cape High Court judges dismissed his appeal against the sentence this week.
|||Cape Town - Convicted drug and abalone smuggler Kiyaam Rinquest will have to serve an effective 28 years behind bars after two Western Cape High Court judges dismissed his appeal against the sentence this week.
They said the courts needed to send out a strong message that drug-related crimes would not be tolerated.
In July 2009, Bellville Commercial Crimes Court magistrate Amrith Chabilall sentenced Rinquest to an affective 28 years in jail after convicting him on 10 charges.
Rinquest was later granted leave to appeal.
During the appeal, his lawyer argued that the sentence was shockingly inappropriate and harsh.
He said the magistrate paid mere lip service to the assertion that he would treat Rinquest as a first offender, because his last previous conviction was in 1981.
In addition, he placed his client’s personal circumstances before the court, saying that he was 47 years old, had been married for 26 years, had two minor children and a grandchild, and was actively employed as a service station manager.
The State argued however that the sentence imposed was not shockingly inappropriate.
It added that there was no merit in the argument that the magistrate simply paid lip service to the assertion that Rinquest would be treated as a first offender.
Delivering judgment in the appeal on Wednesday, Acting Judge Pearl Mantame said Rinquest had been convicted of the “most heinous of crimes”.
She explained that a court of appeal was only entitled to interfere with a sentence if there had been a material misdirection, or if the sentence imposed was shockingly or startlingly inappropriate.
However, she said the magistrate took his time in substantiating his reasons for his findings.
Looking at Rinquest’s personal circumstances, she said there was no doubt that his family was affected by his conviction.
“(Rinquest’s) criminal activities have significantly reduced his well-being to an unfortunate situation of suffering financially,” she added.
But the seriousness of the crimes he committed could not be over-emphasised.
“Statistics in our country reveal that the Western Cape province is the leading province in these types of offences.
“If courts are sluggish in dealing with the crimes, this country will suffer from moral decay, as children as young as nine years these days are addicted to drugs and, at times, are being used as runners in these organised crimes,” the judge said.
The courts had an obligation to send out an “unequivocal message” that such crimes would not be tolerated.
She found that the magistrate was correct, and dismissed the appeal.
Judge Robert Henney agreed.
Weekend Argus
