Foul-mouthed suspect’s jail term reduced

A STOCK theft suspect who unleashed a torrent of f-word expletives at a Magistrate at Otavi early this year has been granted some relief from the prison term that he received for his courtroom cursing.

In a review judgement handed down in the High Court in Windhoek last week, Judges Gerhard Maritz and Petrus Damaseb agreed that Magistrate André le Roux had been correct when he convicted the 20-year-old Hans Gamgabeb three times over for contempt of court on January 21. They however also decided that the three consecutive six-month prison sentences that the Magistrate imposed on Gamgabeb were too severe.With portions of those sentences now having been ordered to be served concurrently, Gamgabeb has effectively been sentenced to nine months in jail for the his swearword-riddled outburst in the Otavi Magistrate’s Court.Gamgabeb had ears ringing in the court when he started swearing at Magistrate Le Roux – alternating curses of “f*** you” with ones of “f*** off” – after the Magistrate had granted him bail in the amount of N$500, instead of releasing him on warning, on a charge of stock theft that Gamgabeb had denied.As Judge Maritz described it in the review judgement, he used “a four-letter obscenity” to tell the Magistrate “what he could do” when the Magistrate told him to stand down from the dock.That was after Gamgabeb had demanded to be released on “free bail”.”The Magistrate, it falls to be noted, used an admirable degree of restraint and warned the accused to stand down.Instead of compliance, the warning only served to solicit a further tirade of four-letter expletives,” Judge Maritz recounted the events in the Otavi Magistrate’s Court on that day.To preserve the dignity and decorum of the court, the Magistrate convicted Gamgabeb of contempt of court on the spot and sentenced him to six months imprisonment, Judge Maritz related.Gamgabeb however continued along the same vocabulary-challenged path of verbal abuse, in the process earning himself an even longer self-inflicted stint behind bars.Even after he had been given a second six-month jail term for his continued cursing at the Magistrate, he again told the Magistrate to “f*** of”.Judge Maritz recounted:”If the Magistrate thought that the prospect of twelve months imprisonment would deflate the accused, he was mistaken.The accused, then on a roll, steamed on along the same abusive lines and the court reciprocated with yet another conviction and added a further six months to the already extensive period of twelve months imprisonment accumulated by the accused in about as many minutes.””(Gamgabeb’s) unseeming, abusive and contemptuous conduct is undoubtedly deserving a sentence of some severity”, in Judge Maritz’s words.However, the effective 18-month jail term with which he eventually, reluctantly, left the dock at Otavi, was too severe, the Judge added.”The accused’s unseemly conduct sprung from the same disturbed state of mind throughout the proceedings,” the Judge remarked.”Uncontrolled as they were, his statements followed in quick succession.Although they justified consecutive convictions, the sentences following upon an earlier one cannot be imposed without due regard to the cumulative effect thereof.”They however also decided that the three consecutive six-month prison sentences that the Magistrate imposed on Gamgabeb were too severe.With portions of those sentences now having been ordered to be served concurrently, Gamgabeb has effectively been sentenced to nine months in jail for the his swearword-riddled outburst in the Otavi Magistrate’s Court.Gamgabeb had ears ringing in the court when he started swearing at Magistrate Le Roux – alternating curses of “f*** you” with ones of “f*** off” – after the Magistrate had granted him bail in the amount of N$500, instead of releasing him on warning, on a charge of stock theft that Gamgabeb had denied.As Judge Maritz described it in the review judgement, he used “a four-letter obscenity” to tell the Magistrate “what he could do” when the Magistrate told him to stand down from the dock.That was after Gamgabeb had demanded to be released on “free bail”.”The Magistrate, it falls to be noted, used an admirable degree of restraint and warned the accused to stand down.Instead of compliance, the warning only served to solicit a further tirade of four-letter expletives,” Judge Maritz recounted the events in the Otavi Magistrate’s Court on that day.To preserve the dignity and decorum of the court, the Magistrate convicted Gamgabeb of contempt of court on the spot and sentenced him to six months imprisonment, Judge Maritz related.Gamgabeb however continued along the same vocabulary-challenged path of verbal abuse, in the process earning himself an even longer self-inflicted stint behind bars.Even after he had been given a second six-month jail term for his continued cursing at the Magistrate, he again told the Magistrate to “f*** of”.Judge Maritz recounted:”If the Magistrate thought that the prospect of twelve months imprisonment would deflate the accused, he was mistaken.The accused, then on a roll, steamed on along the same abusive lines and the court reciprocated with yet another conviction and added a further six months to the already extensive period of twelve months imprisonment accumulated by the accused in about as many minutes.””(Gamgabeb’s) unseeming, abusive and contemptuous conduct is undoubtedly deserving a sentence of some severity”, in Judge Maritz’s words.However, the effective 18-month jail term with which he eventually, reluctantly, left the dock at Otavi, was too severe, the Judge added.”The accused’s unseemly conduct sprung from the same disturbed state of mind throughout the proceedings,” the Judge remarked.”Uncontrolled as they were, his statements followed in quick succession.Although they justified consecutive convictions, the sentences following upon an earlier one cannot be imposed without due regard to the cumulative effect thereof.”