Hengari’s lawyer wants charges thrown out

A lawyer representing former minister of agriculture, fisheries, water and land reform Mac Hengari says he will ask for the charges against Hengari to be thrown out of court.

Defence lawyer Patrick Kauta informed magistrate Monica Andjaba in the Windhoek Magistrate’s Court on Friday that he will apply for the charges against Hengari to be quashed.

Kauta said this after Andjaba delivered a ruling in which she dismissed an attempt by Kauta and fellow defence lawyer Kadhila Amoomo to have the arrest of Hengari and a co-accused on 26 April declared unlawful.

Kauta argued on Tuesday last week that Hengari’s arrest took place as a result of a sting operation carried out by the police, and that the arrest was unlawful because he had been caught in a trap.

Kauta did not object to a postponement of Hengari’s case, which was requested by the state, but objected to an order that Hengari should continue to be held in custody until his next scheduled court appearance.

Andjaba said in her ruling on Friday that the application for Hengari’s release on the basis of entrapment “is not only premature but unsubstantiated as well”.

She also noted that after Hengari and a co-accused were arrested, they made a first court appearance on 28 April and were then remanded in custody when their case was postponed for further investigations to be carried out.

Since that first court appearance, Hengari and his co-accused have been held in custody not on the basis of their initial arrest, but based on a warrant of detention issued by the court, Andjaba said.

Because of that, the attempt to have Hengari and his co-accused released because of an alleged unlawful arrest must fail, Andjaba said.

She added that in terms of the Criminal Procedure Act, Hengari and his co-accused have a right to bring bail applications to secure their release from custody.

Andjaba postponed the case to 3 July, for further investigations to be carried out in the meantime.
Hengari was initially charged with a count of attempting to defeat or obstruct the course of justice.

That charge has in the meantime been changed to a count of defeating or obstructing the course of justice, with the state alleging that Hengari and his co-accused gave N$220 200 to a complainant in a rape case registered against Hengari, to induce her to withdraw the rape charge.

The money is alleged to have been handed over to the complainant during a meeting in Windhoek on 26 April.

On Tuesday last week, deputy prosecutor general Filistas Shikerete-Vendura informed the magistrate that the state was adding two additional charges to the first charge.

The first of the new charges is a count of corruptly giving gratification, with the state alleging that N$220 200 was given to the rape complainant on 26 April as an inducement for her to withdraw the rape charge against Hengari.

The second new charge is a count of incitement to commit the offence of compounding, which is to unlawfully withdraw a criminal case after being paid to do so.

Following Andjaba’s ruling, Kauta said the charges must all be quashed because on the evidence disclosed in a witness statement of the police officer who arrested the two accused and is investigating their case, they cannot be prosecuted on those charges.

A continued prosecution of the accused “is not only unlawful, it’s unconstitutional”, Kauta said.

The application to have the charges quashed is scheduled to be heard in court on Thursday this week.

Hengari’s co-accused is not being named because he is related to the complainant in the rape case registered with the police.

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