Simon’s Town – Duncan Gouvias (22), was convicted and sentenced to a total of 43 years imprisonment last week, in the Wynberg Regional Court for burglary and contraventions of firearms control Act.
Gouvias who was arrested along with two other accomplices, Dilian Sewkumar (18), and Karabo Ramokgopa (19), by the Crimes Against State Unit (CATS) of the Hawks in an intelligence led operation during August 2016 following a burglary at the Simon’s Town Naval base, where an assortment of weapons which included assault rifles and hand grenades amongst other military equipment were stolen.
Duncan Gouvias was sentenced as follows after he pleaded guilty; Count 1 – 5 years imprisonment, Count 2 – 13 years’ imprisonment, of which half is suspended for 5 years, Count 3 – 13 years’ imprisonment, of which half is suspended for 5 years, Count 4 – 6 years imprisonment, Count 5 – 6 years imprisonment.
The sentences will run concurrently and the accused will serve effective 6 ½ years’ in prison. He has additionally been prohibited from possessing a firearm or applying for a firearm licence and from committing similar offences for the suspended period. This entails that should he be convicted of a similar offences during the period of suspension, the suspended sentence might be enacted together with the new sentence for the new offence.
The matter has been postponed to the 23rd of February 2017 for Sewkumar and Ramokgopa to plead, the former remain in custody whilst the latter, in house arrest.
Western Cape Provincial Head of the Hawks, Major General Khoza praised the investigation team for the excellent work in making sure that the accused is brought to book.
“We hope this serves as a lesson to youngsters out there. The moment the accused allegedly targeted a Naval Base, which is a National Key Point, is the moment they cooked their own goose. It cannot be business as usual when young people with the whole future ahead of them get involved in such senseless acts. We are extremely grateful to the team for swiftly recovering the weapons before innocent lives could be lost”. She said.
