‘Meat box’ driver gets N$50 000 bail in massive cannabis plantation case  

An Okahandja resident accused of transporting cannabis valued at close to N$3 million from a farm where a dagga plantation was discovered in the Hochfeld area in May has been granted bail in an amount of N$50 000.

Johannes Kamati (61) was granted bail in an appeal judgement by acting judge Marilize du Plessis in the Windhoek High Court yesterday.

Judge Eileen Rakow agreed with Du Plessis’s judgement.

Bail was granted to Kamati on condition that he is not to contact any of the state’s witnesses in the case in which he is charged.

Kamati appealed to the High Court after an application by him to be granted bail was refused in the Okahandja Magistrate’s Court on 26 September.

Kamati is accused of dealing in 57.9kg of cannabis, valued at about N$2.89 million, or possessing the cannabis at Okahandja on 28 May this year. He is also charged with a count of money laundering.

He is the third accused in a case in which two co-accused, David van der Linden and Armand Schultz, are accused of dealing in or possessing a cannabis plantation, allegedly valued at N$52.2 million, that was discovered at farm Eendrag in the Hochfeld area north-east of Okahandja on 28 May.

Du Plessis recounted in the appeal judgement that Kamati and Schultz were both employed by Van der Linden, who owns farm Eendrag.

According to Kamati, who was employed as a lorry driver, he was arrested after he had been asked by Van der Linden to transport boxes of meat to a service station at Okahandja with his own vehicle.

Kamati said he was under the impression that the boxes, in which 52 parcels of cannabis were allegedly found, contained meat.

During his bail hearing, Kamati said he was not aware of the existence of a cannabis plantation at Van der Linden’s farm.

In her ruling at the end of the bail hearing, magistrate Auguste Simon said the quantity of cannabis allegedly found in Kamati’s possession strongly suggests dealing in cannabis.

She concluded that it would not be in the interest of the public or the administration of justice to release him on bail.

Du Plessis noted in the appeal judgement that Kamati did not dispute that nearly 58kg of cannabis was found in his vehicle. “What he does dispute is having any knowledge of the fact that it was there,” she said.

It should always be kept in mind that the constitutional rights to liberty and to be presumed innocent underpin every bail application, Du Plessis said.

While the charges against Kamati are serious, he explained to the court what his defence would be and the investigating officer had to concede that Kamati cannot without difficulty interfere with the parts of the investigation that are still outstanding, Du Plessis said.

With the state not having presented evidence that Kamati is a flight risk, Du Plessis concluded that he is a suitable candidate to be granted bail.

Kamati is being represented by defence lawyer Milton Engelbrecht.

Sakaria Mupuma represented the state in the appeal.

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