Dealer’s appeal bid goes bust

A SOUTH African truck driver serving one of the heavier sentences to be imposed recently in Namibia’s courts for dagga dealing was told in the High Court last week that he could in fact count himself lucky to have received a six-year jail term.

Self-admitted cannabis dealer Joseph Tsietsi Ntsieane (60) heard this opinion from Judge President Peter Shivute in the High Court in Windhoek on Thursday. Ntsieane appeared before the Judge President and Acting Judge Kato van Niekerk in a belated and ultimately failed attempt to appeal against the sentence that he had received in the Windhoek Regional Court in February 2002.Ntsieane was arrested in Windhoek on February 13 2002 when 138 kg of cannabis, valued at about N$414 000, was discovered in a furniture removal truck that Ntsieane had driven from South Africa to Namibia.Five days after his arrest, Ntsieane was sentenced to six years’ imprisonment.That was after he had pleaded guilty to dealing in cannabis.He told the court that, having been struggling financially and in an attempt to make ends meet, he had agreed to transport the dagga to Namibia for other people in return for a promised payment of N$2 000.On Thursday last week Ntsieane reminded the two Judges that he was a first offender, that he was in ill health, and that his wife also had health problems and was unemployed, and that he was needed to take care of her.Ntsieane faced a substantial first-round obstacle in his appeal attempt, though – and this proved to be a hurdle that he did not manage to pass last week.He wrote to the High Court to ask for the late filing of his appeal to be condoned only in November 2003 – about a year and eight months after the expiry of the two-week period following sentencing in which an appeal needs to be noted.Ntsieane told the court that he had written a letter stating his intention to appeal a month after his arrival in prison already, but that he had not received any reply.He only followed up on this in November last year, with another letter giving notice of his intention to ask the court to condone his late filing of an appeal.The Judge President told Ntsieane that he had failed to state what steps he had followed after his first alleged letter setting out his intention to appeal.He added that, having considered the record of Ntsieane’s trial his view, in any event, was that Ntsieane did not have reasonable prospects for success on appeal.”I may add that the Applicant (Ntsieane) was fortunate to have gotten away with the sentence of six years’ imprisonment,” the Judge President added in closing.Acting Judge Van Niekerk agreed with his ruling.Ntsieane appeared before the Judge President and Acting Judge Kato van Niekerk in a belated and ultimately failed attempt to appeal against the sentence that he had received in the Windhoek Regional Court in February 2002.Ntsieane was arrested in Windhoek on February 13 2002 when 138 kg of cannabis, valued at about N$414 000, was discovered in a furniture removal truck that Ntsieane had driven from South Africa to Namibia.Five days after his arrest, Ntsieane was sentenced to six years’ imprisonment.That was after he had pleaded guilty to dealing in cannabis.He told the court that, having been struggling financially and in an attempt to make ends meet, he had agreed to transport the dagga to Namibia for other people in return for a promised payment of N$2 000.On Thursday last week Ntsieane reminded the two Judges that he was a first offender, that he was in ill health, and that his wife also had health problems and was unemployed, and that he was needed to take care of her.Ntsieane faced a substantial first-round obstacle in his appeal attempt, though – and this proved to be a hurdle that he did not manage to pass last week.He wrote to the High Court to ask for the late filing of his appeal to be condoned only in November 2003 – about a year and eight months after the expiry of the two-week period following sentencing in which an appeal needs to be noted.Ntsieane told the court that he had written a letter stating his intention to appeal a month after his arrival in prison already, but that he had not received any reply.He only followed up on this in November last year, with another letter giving notice of his intention to ask the court to condone his late filing of an appeal.The Judge President told Ntsieane that he had failed to state what steps he had followed after his first alleged letter setting out his intention to appeal.He added that, having considered the record of Ntsieane’s trial his view, in any event, was that Ntsieane did not have reasonable prospects for success on appeal.”I may add that the Applicant (Ntsieane) was fortunate to have gotten away with the sentence of six years’ imprisonment,” the Judge President added in closing.Acting Judge Van Niekerk agreed with his ruling.