Illegal detention costs Govt N$65 000

A HIGH Court case in which an immigration officer committed perjury during his testimony in court resulted in N$65 000 being awarded to an Ethiopian resident of Namibia last week for the three months that he had spent in illegal detention at the end of 2004 and early in 2005.

Immigration officer Walter Aribeb was investigating an alleged scam in which foreigners were getting hold of forged Namibian residence permits when he arrested the Ethiopian-born Dereje Demmse Getachew in Windhoek on October 18 2004. Getachew had been married to a Namibian woman for more than three months already by that time.He and his wife are now expecting a baby.According to Aribeb, he arrested Getachew as a suspected illegal immigrant.Aribeb went on to issue five warrants in which Getachew’s further detention was authorised, each time for another 14-day period, until Getachew was released from custody on January 28 last year, when an urgent application by his wife for his release was poised to be heard in the High Court.Getachew subsequently sued Government for damages of N$100 000 for allegedly having been unlawfully arrested and detained.On Wednesday last week, Judge Louis Muller ruled in his favour, and ordered Government to pay him N$65 000 for damages.Aribeb told the court that the purpose for Getachew’s arrest and detention was that Getachew was a prohibited immigrant who then did not want to provide his passport for about three months after his arrest – and when this was provided, two pages were found to be missing from it and it further contained a forged permanent residence permit.Aribeb further denied having known of Getachew’s marital status.”My initial impression of Aribeb as a witness during his evidence in chief was that he was precise in respect of everything that happened, adamant that he only detained (Getachew) who did not cooperate and had no ulterior motive to detain him,” Judge Muller commented on Aribeb’s testimony in his judgement.That impression of the immigration officer as a witness however changed later, the Judge also pointed out: “During cross-examination Aribeb presented himself to be arrogant and refused to divert from his original evidence, even when he could not explain his conduct.An example is that even when the subsequent warrants of arrest were issued after the 14 days had expired, he still persevered with his testimony that he was entitled to detain (Getachew).(…) Finally, he was proved to be a liar in respect of a crucial occurrence and his entire evidence became suspicious.”In terms of the Immigration Control Act, warrants may be issued to authorise the detention of a suspected illegal immigrant for not longer than 14 days, or for further periods of not longer than 14 days at a time.In Getachew’s case, those 14-day periods had already expired before new warrants were issued to authorise his continued detention, the court heard during the trial on Getachew’s claim against Government.What tripped up Aribeb, however, was his evidence about a written document on which five questions were posed to Getachew, who in turn answered the questions in writing.Aribeb initially denied flat-out that it was his handwriting on the document.Only after an almost two-month-long adjournment in the trial, during which Getachew’s lawyer from the Legal Assistance Centre, Norman Tjombe, got a handwriting expert to verify that it was indeed Aribeb’s handwriting on the document, did Aribeb return to court to make a u-turn and agree that the document was in his handwriting.”I have no doubt that Aribeb on purpose lied under oath,” Judge Muller commented on this fact.Testimony that was given by Getachew’s wife, Dale van Wyk, also showed that Aribeb and his boss, Immigration Deputy Director Nkrumah Mushelenga, had known about Getachew’s marriage to a Namibian citizen much earlier than they had indicated to the court, the Judge also found.Acting Government Attorney Ray Goba represented Government during the trial.Getachew had been married to a Namibian woman for more than three months already by that time.He and his wife are now expecting a baby.According to Aribeb, he arrested Getachew as a suspected illegal immigrant.Aribeb went on to issue five warrants in which Getachew’s further detention was authorised, each time for another 14-day period, until Getachew was released from custody on January 28 last year, when an urgent application by his wife for his release was poised to be heard in the High Court.Getachew subsequently sued Government for damages of N$100 000 for allegedly having been unlawfully arrested and detained.On Wednesday last week, Judge Louis Muller ruled in his favour, and ordered Government to pay him N$65 000 for damages.Aribeb told the court that the purpose for Getachew’s arrest and detention was that Getachew was a prohibited immigrant who then did not want to provide his passport for about three months after his arrest – and when this was provided, two pages were found to be missing from it and it further contained a forged permanent residence permit.Aribeb further denied having known of Getachew’s marital status.”My initial impression of Aribeb as a witness during his evidence in chief was that he was precise in respect of everything that happened, adamant that he only detained (Getachew) who did not cooperate and had no ulterior motive to detain him,” Judge Muller commented on Aribeb’s testimony in his judgement.That impression of the immigration officer as a witness however changed later, the Judge also pointed out: “During cross-examination Aribeb presented himself to be arrogant and refused to divert from his original evidence, even when he could not explain his conduct.An example is that even when the subsequent warrants of arrest were issued after the 14 days had expired, he still persevered with his testimony that he was entitled to detain (Getachew).(…) Finally, he was proved to be a liar in respect of a crucial occurrence and his entire evidence became suspicious.”In terms of the Immigration Control Act, warrants may be issued to authorise the detention of a suspected illegal immigrant for not longer than 14 days, or for further periods of not longer than 14 days at a time.In Getachew’s case, those 14-day periods had already expired before new warrants were issued to authorise his continued detention, the court heard during the trial on Getachew’s claim against Government.What tripped up Aribeb, however, was his evidence about a written document on which five questions were posed to Getachew, who in turn answered the questions in writing.Aribeb initially denied flat-out that it was his handwriting on the document.Only after an almost two-month-long adjournment in the trial, during which Getachew’s lawyer from the Legal Assistance Centre, Norman Tjombe, got a handwriting expert to verify that it was indeed Aribeb’s handwriting on the document, did Aribeb return to court to make a u-turn and agree that the document was in his handwriting.”I have no doubt that Aribeb on purpose lied under oath,” Judge Muller commented on this fact.Testimony that was given by Getachew’s wife, Dale van Wyk, also showed that Aribeb and his boss, Immigration Deputy Director Nkrumah Mushelenga, had known about Getachew’s marriage to a Namibian citizen much earlier than they had indicated to the court, the Judge also found.Acting Government Attorney Ray Goba represented Government during the trial.