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The Supreme Court's judgement is still awaited.įebruary 25: Otavi residents Jamen Petrus Gaoseb (26) and Joahasel Gamaseb (25), who were convicted of robbing and murdering the 81-year-old Ruth Elfriede Will at a farm near Otavi on October 16 2005, are sentenced to effective jail terms of 35 years each by Judge Christie Liebenberg in the High Court at Oshakati. The parties appeal to the Supreme Court, where judgement on the appeal is reserved on October 5. Some notable case that Namibia's courts dealt with during 2011:įebruary 14: High Court Judge President Petrus Damaseb and Judge Collins Parker dismiss opposition parties' legal challenge to the conduct and outcome of the National Assembly election held on November 27 and 28 2009. The problem appears to be that offenders are not listening to the very serious warnings about the consequences of crime which the courts are trying to drive home time and again. The problem is not with courts which are soft on criminals. In fact, the four heaviest prison terms yet imposed by a Namibian court were all handed down this year. The punishments meted out to criminals also appear to be getting heavier, with a succession of new record prison terms emanating from the High Court this year. Sentences in excess of 40 years' imprisonment - almost unheard of a few years ago - are no longer unique. Namibia's courts impose severe jail terms on people convicted of the worst kinds of crimes, it was again demonstrated during 2011. Society's reaction to these outrages is often to call on the courts to impose heavier sentences on criminals.Ī review of the sort of sentences meted out by Namibia's courts - primarily the High Court, where the most serious criminal cases are dealt with - shows that the clamour for heavier sentences is mostly misplaced. The Namibian's coverage of court cases during 2011 inevitably reflects a society where shocking acts of cruelty and brutality continue to be committed: where men rape and murder children and young girls in the most barbaric ways, where troubled romantic relationships end in savage murders, where people resort to the use of crude and deadly weapons like pangas to settle disagreement, and where greed, more often than need, prompts criminals to rob and murder old people in the supposed safety of their own homes. To an overwhelming extent, the picture of the realities of life and crime in Namibia portrayed by court reports this year is not a pretty or a pleasant one.
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NEWS reports from the courts are a mirror reflecting the society we live in.