Bakondja free on bail

FOR the first time in almost eight years, Bakondja Katjiuongua, once Namibia’s most wanted fugitive, is a free man again – and this time it’s all legal.

A bail application that Katjiuongua and his lawyer, André Louw, launched in the Windhoek Regional Court at the end of April ended on Friday with Magistrate Sarel Jacobs ruling that Katjiuongua could be released from custody on bail of N$10 000.The N$10 000 was paid on Friday. With that, Katjiuongua (30) could experience freedom again legally for the first time in more than eight and a half years.He has been in custody since late 2000 – first awaiting trial on fraud, theft and forgery charges on which he was convicted and given a four-year-jail sentence in May 2006, and later also awaiting the conclusion of a trial in which he is facing 17 counts of robbery with aggravating circumstances, escape from custody, kidnapping and attempted murder.ON THE RUNThe second batch of charges arose when Katjiuongua escaped from Police custody twice in late 2000 and for a third time at the start of March 2001. After the third escape, he was on the run from the law for more than three months before he surrendered to the Police. Those months, when he was described as Namibia’s most wanted fugitive, continue to haunt Katjiuongua. The 17 charges that he still faces date from that time, when he allegedly committed a string of armed robberies in which taxi drivers were mostly his targets.
Katjiuongua’s trial on those charges started before former Windhoek Regional Court Magistrate Gert Retief in late October 2004.By the time that Retief retired as a Magistrate at the end of July 2007, the trial was not yet finalised.By June last year, Katjiuongua was then informed that the trial would have to start all over before another Magistrate.While the State could not be blamed for the fact the former Magistrate retired from the bench, Katjiuongua surely could not be blamed for this either, Magistrate Jacobs commented in his bail ruling.He said he was aware that, because of an overloaded court roll, Katjiuongua’s retrial would only be starting next year. By then he would have been in custody awaiting his trial for almost nine years. In his opinion, a period of nine years in custody while awaiting the finalisation of a trial could not be regarded as reasonable, the Magistrate said.He said there was no doubt that the charges Katjiuongua is still facing are serious, and that if he is convicted prison terms might be imposed.The long time that Katjiuongua has already spent in custody is a punishment in itself, though, and a court would be taking that into account when it comes to a sentencing in his pending case, Magistrate Jacobs also said.He said if this is taken into account, an argument that Katjiuongua could be sentenced to a severe term of imprisonment if convicted loses much of its force.He added that the court was accepting that at the stage when Katjiuongua allegedly committed the offences he is still charged with, he was lacking in maturity, responsibility and insight.The fact that Katjiuongua escaped from custody before does not prove that he would abscond and would not stand his trial if released on bail, the Magistrate also remarked. During the bail application Katjiuongua told the court that in the time that he has been in prison he has learned that crime does not pay and that escaping also does not help, the Magistrate recounted.He granted Katjiuongua bail on condition that he returns to court on February 22 next year, when his retrial is now scheduled to start, that he has to report at the Windhoek Police Station every Monday, Wednesday and Friday morning, that he may not leave the Windhoek district without informing the investigating officer dealing with his case, and that he has to hand all travelling documents to the investigating officer.Through more than eight years of court appearances, two trials and a prison term that has been served, Katjiuongua’s family has supported him. His parents, younger sister and the mother of his son – born after the start of his long stint behind bars – were also at court on Friday. They greeted the bail ruling with joy, with a beaming Katjiuongua and his sister embracing before he and his parents also hugged each other and his grateful father, former Member of Parliament Moses Katjiuongua, planted a kiss on the cheek of defence lawyer Louw.Katjiuongua had a special request to his sister, Nankelo Katjiuongua: he asked her to make some nice lasagne for his first dinner back home.Public Prosecutor Simba Nduna represented the State during the bail hearing.werner@namibian.com.na