Cop who shot suspect wins appeal against prison term

THE threat of an eight-year jail sentence that had been faced by a Police officer who was convicted of murder for shooting dead a fleeing burglary suspect was lifted in an appeal judgement of the High Court yesterday.

Constable Johannes Absalom, who is attached to the Namibian Police’s VIP Protection Unit at State House, was convicted of murder when he stood trial in the Windhoek Regional Court in connection with the shooting of a housebreaking suspect, Marius Mouers (19), in Khomasdal in Windhoek on the evening of July 23 2005.Absalom’s trial ended on September 9 last year when Regional Court Magistrate Sarel Jacobs sentenced him to an eight-year jail term. He remained free on bail of N$2 000, though, pending an appeal that was launched against his conviction and sentence.In an appeal judgement that was handed down in the High Court yesterday, Absalom’s appeal against his conviction was dismissed, but his sentence was overturned and replaced with a wholly-suspended term of five years’ imprisonment.’We believe that a Police officer who kills a fleeing suspect under these circumstances, should not be treated as an ordinary criminal who committed an offence of murder,’ Judge Louis Muller stated in the court’s judgement, with which Acting Judge Johan Swanepoel agreed.Absalom and a friend were enjoying an evening out when the friend received a phone call in which his wife told him that someone was breaking into their house. They rushed to the friend’s house, where they found smoke coming from the garage, in which the burglars had apparently started a fire.They also found Mouers emerging from the garage.The trial Magistrate heard that as he arrived at the scene, Absalom called out that he was a Police officer and that the suspects should stop.Absalom, a former member of the People’s Liberation Army of Namibia who was carrying a 9 mm pistol with him that evening, pursued Mouers as he ran off in the direction of a nearby riverbed.Absalom testified during his trial that he fired a warning shot and when Mouers continued running, he fired a second shot.’I aimed at him and shot him down,’ Absalom told the court.Mouers was shot in the head and killed. Absalom was about five metres from him when he shot him.Judge Muller found – as did Magistrate Jacobs – that the evidence showed that Absalom had an intention to kill Mouers. As a result, he was correctly convicted of murder, the Judge found.On the issue of the direct jail term that Absalom was given, Judge Muller noted: ‘There is no evidence to suggest that he is a trigger-happy Police officer who had any past record of using unnecessary force in the exercise of his profession when he arrested a suspect. He is a first offender and a family man. He has no previous convictions. He had remorse for what he did, as well as apologised to the family of the deceased and others. It was a pure co-incidence that he was on the spot when the offence had been committed that evening.’Absalom is a Police officer who was reacting to a serious possible offence, ‘but who in the heat of the moment overstepped the requirements of lawfully killing a suspect,’ Judge Muller stated. In these circumstances, the eight-year prison term that he was given was not appropriate, the court found.Judge Muller however also warned: ‘This should not be regarded as a precedent to allow Police officers to become trigger-happy.’Absalom’s sentence was changed to a five-year prison term, suspended in whole for a period of five years on condition that Absalom is not convicted of murder or culpable homicide where a firearm or dangerous weapon are involved, committed during the period of suspension.Sisa Namandje represented Absalom during his trial and the appeal. State advocate Simba Nduna represented the prosecution with the appeal.