Crying cop killer jailed for life

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Published Nov 30, 2015

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Cape Town - Cheswill Adendorf has been sentenced to life behind bars for murdering a police officer in April 2014.

Western Cape High Court Judge Babalwa Mantame ordered a slouching, dejected-looking Adendorf to stand as she sentenced him on a range of charges to direct imprisonment.

Adendorf was 28 years old and a married father of two children, when he, along with three accomplices, tried to flee from police in a stolen vehicle from the Gordon’s Bay area to Strand.

Police barricaded Broadway road and a female police officer signalled to the suspects to stop. Instead, they drove over her and she died on the scene.

The suspects were arrested close to the accident scene.

One of the gang has already been convicted and sentenced to twelve years behind bars, while the other two were being prosecuted in the Strand Magistrate’s Court.

In September, Adendorf was found guilty of 18 out of 22 charges, ranging from theft to robbery and murder.

Mantame on Monday sentenced Adendorf to 12 months direct imprisonment for each of 13 theft charges. She sentenced him to a further seven years direct imprisonment for theft of a vehicle, 10 years for armed robbery, eight years for another armed robbery and 15 years for another case of armed robbery. He was sentenced to life for the murder.

Mantame ordered all the sentences to run concurrently which means Adendorf will only be eligible for parole in 25 years from now.

The Judge told Adendorf to sit up as she told the court that he had robbed an infant of its mother. The police official had returned to work shortly after taking maternity leave.

Adendorf had been working as a paramedic but was a drug addict and wanted more money to sustain his drug habit, she found.

The judge said his attempts to lead a sober life were always short lived and at the time that he committed the offences he had become aloof.

According to the probation officer’s report, Adendorf portrayed himself as a victim and always shifted blame, refusing to take responsibility for his actions.

The judge said “taking a police officer’s life is inexcusable”.

The probation officer had also described the accused as someone who was “spoilt”, showed no remorse and had no hope of rehabilitation.

Adendorf had also not been honest with the court when he had claimed to be a first time offender – in fact he had two previous convictions, one for the possession of stolen property and the other for the possession of dangerous substances.

The judge found there were no compelling and substantial circumstances to deviate from the minimum sentence of life imprisonment for the murder of a police officer.

As a crying Adendorf was led out of the courtroom, a family member said “God loves you”.

Relatives refused to talk to African News Agency. One man, who would not divulge his name, simply said: “He was a drug addict and the government fails drug addicts because there are no resources to deal with them.”

African News Agency

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