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Thursday, April 25, 2002 - Web posted at 8:37:47 pm GMT Lebanese businessman fined N$11 000 for city shootingA FINE of N$11 000 was paid by Lebanese businessman Ali Ayoub on Friday, after he was convicted of culpable homicide and other offences for a shooting spree in the Windhoek city centre which tragically claimed the life of a passer-by in late 2000. Ayoub (28) was sentenced to an effective fine of N$11 000 or seven years' imprisonment for the crimes he committed in Windhoek's Independence Avenue on December 9 2000. He said he had reacted in self-defence by firing shots into the ground, to ward off an attack by two unknown men. An apparent ricochet bullet struck a 55-year-old Khomasdal resident, Anna Otto, in the chest. The shot was fatal, bringing to a cruel end the evening she had enjoyed out with her daughter, son-in-law and grandchildren who had been taken to see the Christmas lights in the city's Zoo Park. Magistrate Dinnah Usiku told Ayoub, who had pleaded not guilty on all four charges, in the Windhoek Regional Court that in the light of the evidence, his defence of having acted in self-defence had to fail. She convicted him of culpable homicide for the death of Mrs Otto, for which he had been charged with murder, and found him guilty of assault with intent to do grievous bodily harm for injuries inflicted on motorcyclist Chris Quickfall. Quickfall was one of Ayoub's perceived attackers, whose one arm and side were hit by shrapnel from the shooting. Ayoub was further convicted of malicious damage to property, for shooting at and damaging Quickfall's prized Harley-Davidson motorbike, which was the cause of the nasty and eventually deadly altercation between the two men outside the Gustav Voigts Centre, and of discharging a firearm in a municipal area or street. Ayoub had told the court that he thought he was being attacked by two men when Quickfall and a companion aggressively approached him as he was about to drive off from where he had parked outside the shopping centre. What he did not know, was that he had bumped into Quickfall's bike when he reversed his car, and that this fired up the biker's temper. Ayoub claimed that he fired shots at the ground in order to get Quickfall away from him. But, Magistrate Usiku noted in her judgement, according to the evidence Ayoub continued firing even as Quickfall and his friend retreated. Having said he was acting in self-defence, Ayoub could have avoided the claimed attack by also retreating or by escaping. But he did not. Instead, he took retaliatory rather than defensive actions. As a result, she said, Ayoub had moderately exceeded the bounds of self-defence. The force he used had not been necessary and not what a reasonable person would have done in such circumstances, in such a location, and in a holiday month like December, when more people could be expected to be having some fun out on the streets, she said. Having heard the guilty verdicts, Ayoub told the court: "I am very sorry for it, but I don't have the intention to kill anyone. It was an accident." Ayoub was represented by Gerson Hinda, on the instructions of Elias Shikongo. Frieda Kishi prosecuted. |
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