Bike ‘buzz’ costs taxpayer

A MOTORCYCLE swish past the Prime Minister’s motorcade, with a two-fingered “up yours” salute and the swift arrest and lock-up of the bike rider and his passenger thrown into the mix, proved just the recipe to produce a N$75 800 bill for Namibia’s Government.

This was the expensive lesson to be learned in the High Court in Windhoek yesterday, when a settlement agreement that stopped the hearing of a civil claim against Government was made an order of the court. The case that was settled yesterday had its origin in an audacious but ill-considered overtaking manoeuvre on the road between Arandis and Usakos on October 6 2002.That move saw a motorcycle bearing a rider and his passenger dash past a three-car motorcade that was carrying Namibia’s then Prime Minister, Theo-Ben Gurirab, and his wife, Joan.Police officers who were escorting the Prime Minister and his wife promptly arrested not only the biker, Frederick Johannes Smith, but also his passenger, Petra Laaser, and had them locked up in Police cells at Usakos until the next day.Both Smith and Laaser were charged with two offences under the Road Traffic and Transportation Act.These were a contravention of regulations forbidding anyone from overtaking a vehicle in a State motorcade and from failing to comply with the instructions of an authorised traffic or peace officer.The couple was also charged with crimen injuria.It was claimed that as the pair on the bike flashed past the Prime Minister’s motorcade in what Government’s lawyers termed a “defiant and forceful overtaking”, Police officers witnessed the criminal act of crimen injuria in progress.That alleged crime took the form of an “up-yours finger gesture”, as it is put in legal pleadings on Government’s behalf that have been filed with the court.”The insulting gesture was directed at the persons in the motorcade who included the Namibian Prime Minister and his wife,” part of Government’s pleadings also state.This gesture “was not taken lightly by the affected persons”, it was further remarked.By October 22 2002, though, the charges had again been withdrawn against Laaser.She had already spent a day in Police custody, though, and proceeded to sue Government for unlawful arrest and for the legal costs that she had to incur in a failed effort to prevent her detention in the first place.It was this claim that was settled yesterday, with Government agreeing to pay Laaser N$30 000 as damages for her arrest and overnight detention on October 6 2002.In addition, Government agreed to pay Laaser N$10 800 as damages for her legal costs on October 6 and 7 2002, and a further N$35 000 for her legal costs for the High Court damages claim.Government had originally defended the claim.It stated as part of its defence that it was disputing Laaser’s claim that her arrest – for something that Smith, who was in control of the motorcycle, was alleged to have done – had been wrongful and unlawful.As far as the Police were concerned, she had been an accomplice of Smith, Government’s lawyers pleaded.They also admitted that Laaser’s lawyer had tried unsuccessfully to convince the Police to release Laaser from detention, and had given the Police her views on the legality of the Police’s conduct.Simply put, the lawyer had warned the Police that they were acting unlawfully.Yesterday’s settlement shows that she was right.In Government’s pleadings the situation was explained with the statement that “suffice to say the Police did not agree with her”.For Namibia’s already hard-pressed taxpayers, that has now turned out to be a rather expensive and unnecessary difference of opinions.Susan Vivier, instructed by Elise Angula from the firm Lorentz & Bone, represented Laaser in the High Court case.Government was represented by Mkhululi Khupe from the Government Attorney’s office.The case that was settled yesterday had its origin in an audacious but ill-considered overtaking manoeuvre on the road between Arandis and Usakos on October 6 2002.That move saw a motorcycle bearing a rider and his passenger dash past a three-car motorcade that was carrying Namibia’s then Prime Minister, Theo-Ben Gurirab, and his wife, Joan.Police officers who were escorting the Prime Minister and his wife promptly arrested not only the biker, Frederick Johannes Smith, but also his passenger, Petra Laaser, and had them locked up in Police cells at Usakos until the next day.Both Smith and Laaser were charged with two offences under the Road Traffic and Transportation Act.These were a contravention of regulations forbidding anyone from overtaking a vehicle in a State motorcade and from failing to comply with the instructions of an authorised traffic or peace officer. The couple was also charged with crimen injuria.It was claimed that as the pair on the bike flashed past the Prime Minister’s motorcade in what Government’s lawyers termed a “defiant and forceful overtaking”, Police officers witnessed the criminal act of crimen injuria in progress.That alleged crime took the form of an “up-yours finger gesture”, as it is put in legal pleadings on Government’s behalf that have been filed with the court.”The insulting gesture was directed at the persons in the motorcade who included the Namibian Prime Minister and his wife,” part of Government’s pleadings also state.This gesture “was not taken lightly by the affected persons”, it was further remarked.By October 22 2002, though, the charges had again been withdrawn against Laaser.She had already spent a day in Police custody, though, and proceeded to sue Government for unlawful arrest and for the legal costs that she had to incur in a failed effort to prevent her detention in the first place.It was this claim that was settled yesterday, with Government agreeing to pay Laaser N$30 000 as damages for her arrest and overnight detention on October 6 2002.In addition, Government agreed to pay Laaser N$10 800 as damages for her legal costs on October 6 and 7 2002, and a further N$35 000 for her legal costs for the High Court damages claim.Government had originally defended the claim.It stated as part of its defence that it was disputing Laaser’s claim that her arrest – for something that Smith, who was in control of the motorcycle, was alleged to have done – had been wrongful and unlawful.As far as the Police were concerned, she had been an accomplice of Smith, Government’s lawyers pleaded.They also admitted that Laaser’s lawyer had tried unsuccessfully to convince the Police to release Laaser from detention, and had given the Police her views on the legality of the Police’s conduct.Simply put, the lawyer had warned the Police that they were acting unlawfully.Yesterday’s settlement shows that she was right.In Government’s pleadings the situation was explained with the statement that “suffice to say the Police did not agree with her”.For Namibia’s already hard-pressed taxpayers, that has now turned out to be a rather expensive and unnecessary difference of opinions.Susan Vivier, instructed by Elise Angula from the firm Lorentz & Bone, represented Laaser in the High Court case.Government was represented by Mkhululi Khupe from the Government Attorney’s office.