THE first week of June had double significance for former Outapi Magistrate’s Court Public Prosecutor Stanley Nakale on Monday – the last stage of his second High Court trial was postponed to a date only two days after he is set to hear the verdict in another trial in which he is accused of corruption, fraud and other charges.
Judge Louis Muller is scheduled to hand down his verdict in the corruption trial of Nakale and two former colleagues at the Outapi Magistrate’s Court in the High Court in Windhoek on June 4. On June 6, Nakale (31) will have to return to the High Court for the continuation of his second trial in that court.In that trial before Judge Kato van Niekerk, Nakale has pleaded not guilty to nine charges related to allegations that he misused Government-owned vehicles while being stationed at Outapi as a Public Prosecutor between 2003 and 2005.In that time he was involved in two car accidents with Government vehicles.In one of these accidents, on Sunday, March 6 2005, one of nine passengers who Nakale has admitted he was transporting in a Government vehicle was killed when the vehicle overturned on the road between Oshakati and Outapi.In another accident, a Government vehicle driven by Nakale crashed into the fence of a house at Omholo, a village in the Outapi district, on the evening of Saturday, October 18 2003.Nakale is facing a charge of culpable homicide, alternatively reckless or negligent driving, in connection with the fatal accident of March 6 2005.He also is facing a charge of reckless or negligent driving, as well as a count of driving a motor vehicle without the consent of the owner or a person lawfully in charge of the vehicle, in connection with the October 18 2003 collision.In a ruling given by Judge Van Niekerk on Monday last week, the Judge dismissed an application by Nakale to be acquitted on all charges at the close of the prosecution’s case against him.She discharged him on two of the charges against him, leaving him facing counts of culpable homicide, reckless or negligent driving, two counts of fraud for allegedly using a Government order form to buy fuel while he had no valid trip authorisation to use a Government vehicle, a charge of theft, and another two counts of driving a motor vehicle without the consent of the owner or of a person lawfully in charge of the vehicle.Following the ruling, Nakale testified in his own defence last week.He told the court that the then Magistrate of the Outapi Magistrate’s Court, Patricia Nakanyala, gave him verbal permission to use the Government vehicle that he was driving on October 18 2003.He insisted that the collision with the fence happened because one of the front tyres had burst, and not because he was driving recklessly or negligently.On Nakanyala’s earlier testimony as a prosecution witness, in which she denied that she had given Nakale permission to use the vehicle, Nakale remarked that he could not blame her for denying this, since she had given him that permission “at an unusual place”, which was in a bar, and since the vehicle had afterwards been involved in an accident.He claimed that when the March 6 2005 accident happened, he was driving that vehicle with permission from a senior Public Prosecutor.Although the official trip authorisation permitting him to use that vehicle had expired at the end of February 2005, it was to be renewed the very day after the accident, and his senior had in the meantime given him permission to keep on driving the vehicle, he claimed.He told the court that he picked up nine passengers, including relatives of his, at Oshakati before driving back to Outapi.Nakale said on the way, he heard a sound like an explosion, which was a tyre bursting, felt the vehicle swerving to the left, and lost control of the car.It overturned.Nakale insisted that he was on an official trip when that accident happened.Under cross-examination from State advocate Sandra Miller, though, he eventually conceded that his official trip had become mixed with private business along the way, and that in this process, fuel that had been put into the vehicle at Government’s cost had been used for private purposes.”If an accident had not occurred, all these issues would not have arisen,” Nakale remarked at one point in his testimony.When the matter returns to court Nakale will get another chance to call a last defence witness whose evidence he has said he wants to place before the court.Miller and Nakale, who is representing himself in the trial, are set to address the court thereafter on the verdict that Judge Van Niekerk will hand down.In the trial before Judge Muller, Nakale and two court officials who were stationed at the Outapi Magistrate’s Court at the same time that he was working there as a Public Prosecutor are facing 14 charges.These include four counts of corruption, three charges of fraud, three charges of forgery, and a count of defeating or obstructing the course of justice.The charges all flow from allegations that Nakale had solicited and received a bribe of N$7 000 from the wife of an incest and rape suspect in return for getting the suspect released on bail in May 2005.Nakale remains free on bail pending the finalisation of the trials.On June 6, Nakale (31) will have to return to the High Court for the continuation of his second trial in that court.In that trial before Judge Kato van Niekerk, Nakale has pleaded not guilty to nine charges related to allegations that he misused Government-owned vehicles while being stationed at Outapi as a Public Prosecutor between 2003 and 2005.In that time he was involved in two car accidents with Government vehicles.In one of these accidents, on Sunday, March 6 2005, one of nine passengers who Nakale has admitted he was transporting in a Government vehicle was killed when the vehicle overturned on the road between Oshakati and Outapi.In another accident, a Government vehicle driven by Nakale crashed into the fence of a house at Omholo, a village in the Outapi district, on the evening of Saturday, October 18 2003.Nakale is facing a charge of culpable homicide, alternatively reckless or negligent driving, in connection with the fatal accident of March 6 2005.He also is facing a charge of reckless or negligent driving, as well as a count of driving a motor vehicle without the consent of the owner or a person lawfully in charge of the vehicle, in connection with the October 18 2003 collision.In a ruling given by Judge Van Niekerk on Monday last week, the Judge dismissed an application by Nakale to be acquitted on all charges at the close of the prosecution’s case against him.She discharged him on two of the charges against him, leaving him facing counts of culpable homicide, reckless or negligent driving, two counts of fraud for allegedly using a Government order form to buy fuel while he had no valid trip authorisation to use a Government vehicle, a charge of theft, and another two counts of driving a motor vehicle without the consent of the owner or of a person lawfully in charge of the vehicle.Following the ruling, Nakale testified in his own defence last week.He told the court that the then Magistrate of the Outapi Magistrate’s Court, Patricia Nakanyala, gave him verbal permission to use the Government vehicle that he was driving on October 18 2003.He insisted that the collision with the fence happened because one of the front tyres had burst, and not because he was driving recklessly or negligently.On Nakanyala’s earlier testimony as a prosecution witness, in which she denied that she had given Nakale permission to use the vehicle, Nakale remarked that he could not blame her for denying this, since she had given him that permission “at an unusual place”, which was in a bar, and since the vehicle had afterwards been involved in an accident.He claimed that when the March 6 2005 accident happened, he was driving that vehicle with permission from a senior Public Prosecutor.Although the official trip authorisation permitting him to use that vehicle had expired at the end of February 2005, it was to be renewed the very day after the accident, and his senior had in th
e meantime given him permission to keep on driving the vehicle, he claimed.He told the court that he picked up nine passengers, including relatives of his, at Oshakati before driving back to Outapi.Nakale said on the way, he heard a sound like an explosion, which was a tyre bursting, felt the vehicle swerving to the left, and lost control of the car.It overturned.Nakale insisted that he was on an official trip when that accident happened.Under cross-examination from State advocate Sandra Miller, though, he eventually conceded that his official trip had become mixed with private business along the way, and that in this process, fuel that had been put into the vehicle at Government’s cost had been used for private purposes.”If an accident had not occurred, all these issues would not have arisen,” Nakale remarked at one point in his testimony.When the matter returns to court Nakale will get another chance to call a last defence witness whose evidence he has said he wants to place before the court.Miller and Nakale, who is representing himself in the trial, are set to address the court thereafter on the verdict that Judge Van Niekerk will hand down.In the trial before Judge Muller, Nakale and two court officials who were stationed at the Outapi Magistrate’s Court at the same time that he was working there as a Public Prosecutor are facing 14 charges.These include four counts of corruption, three charges of fraud, three charges of forgery, and a count of defeating or obstructing the course of justice.The charges all flow from allegations that Nakale had solicited and received a bribe of N$7 000 from the wife of an incest and rape suspect in return for getting the suspect released on bail in May 2005.Nakale remains free on bail pending the finalisation of the trials.
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