Mabena v The State

On 5 March 2010 at the Blairgowrie Shopping Centre, the appellant, Vusi Mabena, and a co-accused committed an armed robbery at a Nashua Mobile shop, stealing various items including a cellphone, laptop, cash and vouchers. When fleeing the scene, both fired gunshots at pursuing ADT security guards. The robbers were apprehended shortly thereafter and arrested. Mabena was convicted in the Regional Court, Johannesburg, of robbery with aggravating circumstances and attempted murder. He was sentenced to 15 years’ imprisonment for robbery and five years’ imprisonment for attempted murder, with the sentences ordered to run consecutively.

The appeal against sentence succeeded. The sentence imposed by the Regional Court was set aside and replaced with an order sentencing the appellant to 15 years’ imprisonment for robbery with aggravating circumstances and five years’ imprisonment for attempted murder, with the five-year sentence ordered to run concurrently with the 15-year sentence.

The case reaffirms the principle that courts must consider the cumulative effect of multiple sentences and that closely related offences committed in the same transaction may justify concurrent sentencing. It underscores appellate oversight where sentencing courts misdirect themselves by imposing an unduly harsh effective sentence.