A jeweller who had an unlicenced gun and was shot with it by his wife during a robbery should be given a six month suspended jail term and 200 hours community service, the public prosecution service said on Friday.

Willy S’s wife Marina shot the two robbers dead and injured her husband during the attack on their jewellery store in March last year. The woman does not face any charges because justice officials say she acted in self defence.

The maximum sentence for possessing an illegal weapon is four years.

The public prosecutor said that although S had been forced to fight for his life, illegal weapons escalate the situation. ‘Our society is not served by illegal guns,’ he said.

S’s lawyer had called for him to be pardoned, saying the sentencing demand only added to the couple’s suffering. Marina, he said, had spent some time in a psychiatric clinic.

Police also found a taser and pepper spray when they searched the jewellry store after the robbery. Both had been bought after a previous robbery and both are illegal weapons, news agency ANP reports.