Crash driver to appeal against murder verdict

Jandre Dippenaar, who was convicted on six counts of murder following a fatal road collision in 2014, plans to appeal against his conviction and the 15-year prison term that he received in the Swakopmund Regional Court on Friday.

Dippenaar’s case is the first in Namibian legal history in which an individual was found guilty of murder, rather than culpable homicide, in connection with a fatal road accident. Regional magistrate Gaynor Poulton convicted Dippenaar of murder with intent in the form of dolus eventualis, which refers to when an accused person can objectively foresee that his conduct is likely to cause the death of another, but proceeds to act regardless of the consequences of his conduct.

In addition to the 15-year prison term on the six counts of murder, Poulton sentenced Dippenaar to pay fines of N$8 000 for reckless driving and N$2 000 for driving without a valid licence. His driving licence was also suspended for three months.

The court viewed Dippenaar’s actions as the cause of the deaths of six people.Three people in the vehicle driven by Dippenaar – Dinah Pretorius, Charlene Schoombee and JC Horn – lost their lives in the collision near Henties Bay on 29 December 2014. Three members of a German family that was visiting Namibia – Markus and Stephanie Joschko and their daughter Alexandra – were also killed when the pickup in which they were travelling collided head-on with the car driven by Dippenaar.The youngest member of the German family, Antonia Joschko, and Dippenaar were the only survivors of the collision.

“The murder conviction and sentencing is shocking, and the whole matter has been biased from the start, both in the media and in the trial,” said Jandre’s father, Dippies Dippenaar, on Friday.

Dippenaar’s defence counsel, Petrie Theron and Albert Strydom, confirmed to The Namibian that the matter will be taken on appeal.
The state’s expert witnesses suggested, after many hours of technical evidence, that the accident happened when Dippenaar’s vehicle was in the wrong lane and crashed head-on with the Joschkos’ vehicle.

The defence’s counterpart suggested, also with many hours of technical evidence, that Joschko turned into Dippenaar’s lane, and was therefore the cause of the accident.

Poulton found that Dippenaar, who is an experienced rally driver, drove recklessly, overtaking vehicles at high speed on a blind rise, leading to the fatal crash. Despite being warned about his driving behaviour by a traffic officer earlier that day, Dippenaar continued to drive dangerously, showing what the court described as a “wilful disregard for the safety of others”.

Poulton said she considered the aggravating circumstances of the case, including Dippenaar’s reckless behaviour on a busy road during the holiday season and the devastating impact of the collision on the victims’ families.

She said she also considered Dippenaar’s personal circumstances, including that he is a first-time offender and the significant emotional and social toll the incident has had on him. However, she concluded that aggravating factors outweighed mitigating circumstances, making a sentence of direct imprisonment “inescapable”.

Antonia Joschko, who lost her entire immediate family in the accident, expressed a mix of relief and resignation after the sentencing.
“I’m very relieved. Waiting for so long […] it’s just been a long time coming. Imprisonment was important for me,” she said.

She added: “It doesn’t make sense for me to compare years of imprisonment to killing my whole family. But I’m relieved that he’s going into prison […] and I don’t have to go through this court process anymore.”

Jan Horn, the father of JC Horn, echoed a similar sentiment of closure mixed with pain.

“This is the end of the road. This is very important,” he said.”It was 10 years of hell since the accident […]. No one was a winner here […]. But at least justice was done; we are satisfied with the sentence. There are never winners in such a case – there is only sadness, there is a lot of pain for everyone, including Dippenaar’s parents, but now healing can start.”