Simon’s driver loses appeal

THE man who said he was driving former world champion boxer Harry Simon’s vehicle when Simon and his entourage were involved in a first fatal car crash near Swakopmund in April 2001 has lost his appeal against his jail sentence.

He was found guilty of culpable homicide and sentenced to two years behind bars. Acting Judge Nate Ndauendapo dismissed Hans Wilbard Hauwanga’s appeal in the High Court in Windhoek on Thursday last week.The effect of Acting Judge Ndauendapo’s decision is that Hauwanga will now have to start serving the jail term that Magistrate Gert Retief sentenced him to in the Swakopmund Regional Court in December 2004, after Hauwanga had pleaded guilty to charges of culpable homicide, failing to ascertain the injuries of people involved in an accident, and failing to report an accident.For Simon, Hauwanga’s appeal judgement might also be a foreboding of bad tidings.A case in which Simon is appealing against a two-year jail term that he received in the Walvis Bay Regional Court on August 4 last year in connection with a second deadly car crash he was involved in between Swakopmund and Walvis Bay on November 21 2002, is set to be heard in the High Court in Windhoek on February 9 next year.Simon is free on bail pending the finalisation of his appeal.In the crash, a Mercedes-Benz sedan vehicle in which Hauwanga and Simon were travelling crashed from behind into a vehicle in which a couple from Swakopmund, Siegfried and Elke Kessler, were travelling.The Kesslers’ car burst into flames, and the couple died in the blaze.At the start of his trial before Magistrate Retief, he stated in a written plea explanation that he was driving at a speed of about 170 to 190 kilometres per hour, and that he was driving behind the Kessler couple’s car, which was also driving at high speed, before the collision took place.Hauwanga related in the statement that a bakkie driven by one Alfred Lorentschk turned onto the road ahead of the Kesslers, and that Lorentschk’s vehicle then drove on at a speed of about 70 km/h.The “excessive high speed of myself” and of the driver of the Kesslers’ car, the fact that he was not maintaining a safe following distance, and the fact that the Kesslers in turn did not follow Lorentschk’s vehicle at a safe distance, culminated in a collision of the vehicle that Hauwanga was driving into the back of the Kesslers’ car, which in turn collided into the back end of Lorentschk’s bakkie, Hauwanga claimed.In his judgement, Acting Judge Ndauendapo noted that in previous court decisions on cases of culpable homicide that resulted from fatal car accidents it had been remarked that the question of punishment in such cases is always a difficult one.In such cases, the accused person is often a person of blameless character who had never before been convicted of any offence.Still, to be negligent in the handling of a car on public roads is an offence, and if that negligence causes death, a serious crime is committed, he noted.”It may be that the time has come when it is the duty of judicial officers to exercise greater severity in passing sentence in cases of the negligent use of motor vehicles.A motor car is a most dangerous instrument if negligently handled, and it may be that the only way to remind drivers of their duty to use proper care is for magistrates and Judges to make more frequent use of the deterrent effect of prison sentences.”Noting the high speed that Hauwanga been driving at night, without maintaining a safe following distance, Acting Judge Ndauendapo agreed that Hauwanga had been more than negligent.”It follows that direct imprisonment was not out of place,” he stated.Acting Judge Nate Ndauendapo dismissed Hans Wilbard Hauwanga’s appeal in the High Court in Windhoek on Thursday last week.The effect of Acting Judge Ndauendapo’s decision is that Hauwanga will now have to start serving the jail term that Magistrate Gert Retief sentenced him to in the Swakopmund Regional Court in December 2004, after Hauwanga had pleaded guilty to charges of culpable homicide, failing to ascertain the injuries of people involved in an accident, and failing to report an accident.For Simon, Hauwanga’s appeal judgement might also be a foreboding of bad tidings.A case in which Simon is appealing against a two-year jail term that he received in the Walvis Bay Regional Court on August 4 last year in connection with a second deadly car crash he was involved in between Swakopmund and Walvis Bay on November 21 2002, is set to be heard in the High Court in Windhoek on February 9 next year.Simon is free on bail pending the finalisation of his appeal.In the crash, a Mercedes-Benz sedan vehicle in which Hauwanga and Simon were travelling crashed from behind into a vehicle in which a couple from Swakopmund, Siegfried and Elke Kessler, were travelling.The Kesslers’ car burst into flames, and the couple died in the blaze.At the start of his trial before Magistrate Retief, he stated in a written plea explanation that he was driving at a speed of about 170 to 190 kilometres per hour, and that he was driving behind the Kessler couple’s car, which was also driving at high speed, before the collision took place.Hauwanga related in the statement that a bakkie driven by one Alfred Lorentschk turned onto the road ahead of the Kesslers, and that Lorentschk’s vehicle then drove on at a speed of about 70 km/h.The “excessive high speed of myself” and of the driver of the Kesslers’ car, the fact that he was not maintaining a safe following distance, and the fact that the Kesslers in turn did not follow Lorentschk’s vehicle at a safe distance, culminated in a collision of the vehicle that Hauwanga was driving into the back of the Kesslers’ car, which in turn collided into the back end of Lorentschk’s bakkie, Hauwanga claimed.In his judgement, Acting Judge Ndauendapo noted that in previous court decisions on cases of culpable homicide that resulted from fatal car accidents it had been remarked that the question of punishment in such cases is always a difficult one.In such cases, the accused person is often a person of blameless character who had never before been convicted of any offence.Still, to be negligent in the handling of a car on public roads is an offence, and if that negligence causes death, a serious crime is committed, he noted.”It may be that the time has come when it is the duty of judicial officers to exercise greater severity in passing sentence in cases of the negligent use of motor vehicles.A motor car is a most dangerous instrument if negligently handled, and it may be that the only way to remind drivers of their duty to use proper care is for magistrates and Judges to make more frequent use of the deterrent effect of prison sentences.”Noting the high speed that Hauwanga been driving at night, without maintaining a safe following distance, Acting Judge Ndauendapo agreed that Hauwanga had been more than negligent.”It follows that direct imprisonment was not out of place,” he stated.