Bakondja expresses remorse for actions

“BAKONDJA is sorry.” This, said Bakondja Katjiuongua as his fraud trial moved into the home stretch in the Windhoek Regional Court yesterday, was the message that he wanted to convey to the people who were harmed when he committed a string of mostly cheque-fraud offences back in the year 2000.

“I will not let this chance pass me by to apologise to any- and everybody that I’ve hurt, that I’ve disappointed. Bakondja is sorry,” Katjiuongua (27) told Magistrate Dinnah Usiku when he testified in mitigation of sentence.Katjiuongua was convicted on 27 charges a month ago: 25 charges of fraud, a count of theft and a charge of uttering.”I do apologise,” he said at one point.”That is to my parents, to everyone who was involved, indirectly hurt by my actions.”I believe that I’m a good person, and hopefully I’ll be granted the possibility of proving that.”Having heard testimony from Katjiuongua, his father, former National Assembly member and pre-Independence Cabinet Minister, Moses Katjiuongua, and Namibian Police Serious Crime Unit member Frans Kantema, as well as final arguments on sentencing from Deputy Prosecutor General Jackson Kuutondokwa and defence counsel Unanisa Hengari, Magistrate Usiku set May 2 as the date for sentencing.Most of the fraud charges relate to incidents where, the court found, Katjiuongua unlawfully used cheques that belonged either to his father or two political parties that used to be led by his father, the Democratic Coalition of Namibia and the Namibia Patriotic Front, to go shopping on a series of occasions from May to October 2000.Three of the fraud charges relate to an incident on October 1 2000, when cheques stolen from a C.C.C.Meissner were cashed for a total of N$20 000 at a foreign-exchange bureau.Katjiuongua Snr, who laid the charges that led to his son’s arrest close to six years ago, was the second witness to testify in mitigation of Katjiuongua Jnr’s sentence yesterday.”I love all four my children equally,” the former MP told the court.”Some have been naughtier than others, but nevertheless, I love them all.”Despite the pain and harm that his son has caused to his family, despite the financial losses that he had cost the family, despite the harm he had done to his family’s reputation and the fact that he had robbed himself of the opportunity to further his own education, the family has decided not to abandon him, but to continue loving him, Katjiuongua Snr said.”We forgive him, on one condition: that he has learnt something fundamental from this saga, this drama,” he said.Katjiuongua told the Magistrate that in his opinion his son has matured in the close to six years he has spent in Police custody since late 2000, and is able to turn over a new leaf in his life.He thinks his son was naughty, young, and perhaps had too much energy that he channelled in the wrong direction, Katjiuongua Snr said.”I’ve seen and I’ve learned from the errors of my ways.Imprisonment, I don’t see that it will serve any positive purpose,” Bakondja Katjiuongua told the court before his father testified.”I have only myself to blame,” he answered, after a heavy pause, when he was asked who he thought was to blame for the situation that he found himself in.In the years that he has been in Police custody, awaiting the finalisation of this trial, he has learnt two major lessons, he said: firstly, “to respect people and their property”, and secondly, “it’s never too late to do the right thing”.Katjiuongua said he had one son, aged five, who was born after his arrest.Because of his incarceration, he has not been able to help look after his child, the court heard.Katjiuongua denied all 44 charges on which he was prosecuted.He was convicted on 27 of those charges.Under cross-examination from Deputy Prosecutor General Kuutondokwa yesterday, he agreed that he had in fact been guilty on the charges on which the Magistrate convicted him.He also confirmed that he had known throughout the proceedings in his trial that he was in fact guilty as charged on those counts.Kuutondokwa told the court in his final arguments that according to his calculations a total of N$86 048 was involved in the 27 counts that Katjiuongua was found guilty of – and that did not take into account goods that he was found to have stolen from his father.The only appropriate sentence would be one of direct imprisonment, Kuutondokwa argued.Hengari asked the Magistrate to extend some mercy to Katjiuongua.Compassion was the mark of an enlightened society, he reminded the court.Once this trial has been finalised, Katjiuongua will still face a second trial in the Regional Court.The charges in that trial, which is also nearing its end, are even more serious.In the second trial, he faces three counts of escaping from custody – all related to incidents when he slipped out of Police custody following his initial arrest on the fraud charges – and a host of other counts that include charges of armed robbery, kidnapping and attempted murder.These mostly date from the time that he spent on the run from the Police from March to June 2001, when he became known as the most wanted man in Namibia.Bakondja is sorry,” Katjiuongua (27) told Magistrate Dinnah Usiku when he testified in mitigation of sentence.Katjiuongua was convicted on 27 charges a month ago: 25 charges of fraud, a count of theft and a charge of uttering.”I do apologise,” he said at one point.”That is to my parents, to everyone who was involved, indirectly hurt by my actions.”I believe that I’m a good person, and hopefully I’ll be granted the possibility of proving that.”Having heard testimony from Katjiuongua, his father, former National Assembly member and pre-Independence Cabinet Minister, Moses Katjiuongua, and Namibian Police Serious Crime Unit member Frans Kantema, as well as final arguments on sentencing from Deputy Prosecutor General Jackson Kuutondokwa and defence counsel Unanisa Hengari, Magistrate Usiku set May 2 as the date for sentencing. Most of the fraud charges relate to incidents where, the court found, Katjiuongua unlawfully used cheques that belonged either to his father or two political parties that used to be led by his father, the Democratic Coalition of Namibia and the Namibia Patriotic Front, to go shopping on a series of occasions from May to October 2000.Three of the fraud charges relate to an incident on October 1 2000, when cheques stolen from a C.C.C.Meissner were cashed for a total of N$20 000 at a foreign-exchange bureau.Katjiuongua Snr, who laid the charges that led to his son’s arrest close to six years ago, was the second witness to testify in mitigation of Katjiuongua Jnr’s sentence yesterday.”I love all four my children equally,” the former MP told the court.”Some have been naughtier than others, but nevertheless, I love them all.”Despite the pain and harm that his son has caused to his family, despite the financial losses that he had cost the family, despite the harm he had done to his family’s reputation and the fact that he had robbed himself of the opportunity to further his own education, the family has decided not to abandon him, but to continue loving him, Katjiuongua Snr said.”We forgive him, on one condition: that he has learnt something fundamental from this saga, this drama,” he said.Katjiuongua told the Magistrate that in his opinion his son has matured in the close to six years he has spent in Police custody since late 2000, and is able to turn over a new leaf in his life.He thinks his son was naughty, young, and perhaps had too much energy that he channelled in the wrong direction, Katjiuongua Snr said.”I’ve seen and I’ve learned from the errors of my ways.Imprisonment, I don’t see that it will serve any positive purpose,” Bakondja Katjiuongua told the court before his father testified.”I have only myself to blame,” he answered, after a heavy pause, when he was asked who he thought was to blame for the situation that he found himself in.In the years that he has been in Police custody, awaiting the finalisation of this trial, he has learnt two major lessons, he said: firstly, “to respect people and their property”, and secondly, “it’s never too late to do the right thing”.Katjiuongua said he had one son, aged five, who was born after his arrest.Because of his incarceration, he has not been able to help look after his child, the court heard.Katjiuongua denied all 44 charges on which he was prosecuted.He was convicted on 27 of those charges.Under cross-examination from Deputy Prosecutor General Kuutondokwa yesterday, he agreed that he had in fact been guilty on the charges on which the Magistrate convicted him.He also confirmed that he had known throughout the proceedings in his trial that he was in fact guilty as charged on those counts.Kuutondokwa told the court in his final arguments that according to his calculations a total of N$86 048 was involved in the 27 counts that Katjiuongua was found guilty of – and that did not take into account goods that he was found to have stolen from his father.The only appropriate sentence would be one of direct imprisonment, Kuutondokwa argued.Hengari asked the Magistrate to extend some mercy to Katjiuongua.Compassion was the mark of an enlightened society, he reminded the court.Once this trial has been finalised, Katjiuongua will still face a second trial in the Regional Court.The charges in that trial, which is also nearing its end, are even more serious.In the second trial, he faces three counts of escaping from custody – all related to incidents when he slipped out of Police custody following his initial arrest on the fraud charges – and a host of other counts that include charges of armed robbery, kidnapping and attempted murder.These mostly date from the time that he spent on the run from the Police from March to June 2001, when he became known as the most wanted man in Namibia.