|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
You Are
Here: |
Local News|
Thursday, January 24, 2008 - Web posted at 7:25:31 GMT Quick stop in Caprivi treason trial WERNER MENGESTHE main Caprivi high treason trial, which resumed in the High Court in Windhoek this week, petered out yesterday with a request from the prosecution to have their latest witness declared hostile. |
|
The prosecution's 245th witness in the trial, George Muyakui Mukoka, was on the witness stand for a second day yesterday and will have to return to court again probably next week, after the prosecution yesterday launched an application to have him declared a hostile witness. Mukoka had been in the witness box for about an hour and a half yesterday when Deputy Prosecutor General Taswald July informed Judge Elton Hoff that he wanted Mukoka declared a hostile witness so that the prosecution can cross-examine him. Since the main part of the trial started in August 2004, the prosecution has only had one of its witnesses declared hostile to enable it to cross-examine its own witness. That took place in February 2006. July told Judge Hoff that he now wanted this to be done with Mukoka too because he was "clearly reluctant" to indicate persons who were mentioned in a witness statement he is claimed to have made to the Police previously. July also told the Judge that a similar situation might arise with other State witnesses who have been consulted by the prosecution and are ready to testify. After July told the Judge that he wanted to confront Mukoka with his witness statement and question him over differences between what is stated in the document and the testimony he has given in court, Mukoka confirmed that he had signed the witness statement. However, he added that he had never been given the statement to read, that he did not know what he was signing for when he signed it, and that he cannot read. He had signed the statement out of fear, Mukoka claimed. In his testimony, Mukoka said he was a resident of Makanga in the Caprivi Region. This village, some 70 kilometres southwest of Katima Mulilo, is claimed to have been at the centre of the activities of an alleged secessionist movement in the Caprivi Region some eight to nine years ago. Mukoka said he left the Caprivi Region in December 1998, when he went to Botswana after being told that there were job opportunities in that country. He could not remember who had told him that, though, he claimed. In Botswana, he ended up in the Dukwe refugee camp, where he stayed before he was repatriated to Namibia in July 1999, Mukoka said. Before going to Botswana, he attended a public meeting at Makanga which was addressed by former DTA leader - and now exiled alleged secessionist supremo - Mishake Muyongo, Mukoka testified. At the meeting, Muyongo said he would separate the Caprivi Region from Namibia, Mukoka said. The then Governor of the Caprivi Region, John Mabuku, also spoke at the meeting, he said. Mabuku said the same thing as Muyongo - that the Caprivi Region should be separated from Namibia, Mukoka said. After July had announced that the prosecution wanted to have Mukoka declared a hostile witness, he also told Judge Hoff that he wanted to call two witnesses to give evidence on the circumstances under which Mukoka had made his witness statement to the Police. These witnesses are set to testify on Monday next week, when the trial will continue. * The Namibian reported yesterday that four State witnesses had completed giving their evidence, and a fifth had started with his testimony, over the first two days of proceedings in the trial this week. In fact, five prosecution witnesses had completed their evidence and the sixth was on the witness stand by the time the court adjourned on Tuesday afternoon. |
|
||||
PO Box 20783 - Windhoek - 42 John Meinert Street Tel: +264 (61) 279600 - Fax: +264 (61) 279602
|
