Refinery robbery ruling next week

SUSPECTED bank robber William Nanua Kapris will know next Wednesday what his punishment will be in the K2 million Metals Refining Operations  (MRO) robbery in 2007.
This is on top of the four years he received yesterday for two prison escapes.
His lawyer David Dotaona, of Dotaona Lawyers, yesterday asked for four to five years as Justice Bernard Sakora heard final submissions.
Dotaona submitted that whatever the final sentence, two years must be deducted for the time spent in custody for this armed robbery in which K78,000 cash and gold bars worth K2,060,115.56 was stolen from the MRO headquarters in Gordon, NCD, on the evening of Feb 14, 2007.
He said the court should take note of claims made by Kapris that there others involved and the money and gold bars had not been recovered.
“These are people in high places.”
Dotaona said the use of police uniforms and accessories as well as the way they got past heavily electronic security could only happen with assistance of “insiders” who knew the process and where the gold and money were located.
“This is a clear indication of other’s involvement,” he said, adding that his client was now the scapegoat.
Dotaona submitted that his client had cooperated with authorities by identifying the others involved i n the incident to which he pleaded guilty.
He said as his client had shown remorse for his involvement, therefore, a jail term of term of four to five years, “or anything between three and 10 years” would reflect his cooperation with law enforcement agencies.
Sakora adjourned the case to Wednesday when he will hand down his decision. The maximum penalty for armed robbery is life imprisonment.
Kapris has been serving his 15-year jail term since Nov 14, 1997, when he was 17 years old. That term was due to finish in 2012.
Yesterday, Kapris was convicted of two escapes from prison and sentenced to additional four years in jail for escaping from lawful custody – one in 2008 and another last  Jan 12.