Pio Teek retires as Judge in wake of rape charges

THE criminal charges on which Supreme Court Judge of Appeal Pio Teek was arrested at the end of January claimed his judicial career on Friday.

Teek is retiring as a Supreme Court Judge of Appeal with immediate effect, the Minister of Presidential Affairs, Dr Albert Kawana, announced on behalf of the Office of the President on Friday afternoon. Teek has asked to retire, and the Judicial Service Commission has recommended to President Hifikepunye Pohamba that his retirement should be approved, Kawana stated in a press release.”This would mean that his tenure as a Supreme Court Judge would come to an end immediately and that he would stand trial as an ordinary citizen,” he said.The President has, “in the interests of the administration of justice”, authorised Teek’s retirement “with the effect that his judicial tenure ceases with immediate effect”, Kawana announced.Teek, aged 58, still qualifies to receive a pension as a retired Judge.Friday’s announcement flows from an unprecedented arrest that the Namibian Police carried out on January 31.On that day, Teek was arrested on charges that he had had abducted and sexually molested two girls, aged nine and ten.These incidents are claimed to have occurred on the evening of January 28 to the morning of January 29.It is alleged that he picked up the two children in his vehicle in Katutura and took them, without their parents’ permission, to his smallholding in the Brakwater area north of Windhoek.According to the indictment he is set to face at his High Court trial, he sexually fondled the two girls on the way to his plot and after they had arrived at his house – acts which, if proven, could constitute acts of rape in terms of the Combating of Rape Act.It is also alleged that he gave the two under-aged girls alcoholic drinks at his house.Having become the first member of Namibia’s judiciary to be arrested and criminally charged, Teek faced swift action from the Judicial Service Commission, which is responsible for recommending the appointment and removal from office of Judges to the President.The Commission held an urgent meeting on the day of Teek’s arrest, and recommended that he be suspended.Then President Sam Nujoma suspended him from the bench on February 9.The Commission charged Teek with gross misconduct – one of the grounds on which Judges may be removed from office in terms of the Constitution – on March 10.He responded to the charge on April 28, and the Commission’s investigation has since been pending, Kawana said in his statement.”Although he denies all charges, he has accepted that, even if acquitted in the criminal trial and in the Judicial Service Commission investigation, it would not be possible for him to be able to return to the Bench and properly perform his functions in view of public perceptions after recent developments,” the Minister stated.”Based upon his acceptance that he would not be able to properly continue to discharge his functions following these events, he has applied to retire.The Judicial Service Commission is also of the view that, regardless of the outcome of the proceedings, it would be untenable for him to return to office.”A MAN OF FIRSTS Teek’s legal career has been one of several firsts for Namibia as a country emerging from a history of racial discrimination.He became one of the first black Namibians to gain entry into a white-dominated profession when he started practising law as an advocate in Windhoek in 1976.In July 1990, Teek was appointed as Namibia’s Acting Ombudsman.He held that office until April 1992, when, at the age of 45, he was the first black Namibian to be appointed as a Judge of the country’s High Court.He served in that capacity until April 1999, when he made more judicial history by becoming the first black person to be appointed as Judge President of the High Court.Teek was appointed as an Appeal Judge in the Supreme Court in June 2003.That appointment, too, was the first of its kind, since Teek was the first person to join the Chief Justice on the Supreme Court bench in a permanent capacity.At the time of that appointment, there was some speculation in legal circles that he was being groomed to take over the Chief Justice’s post on the retirement of the then Chief Justice Johan Strydom.That was not to be, though – and then came the events of January 31, delivering a fatal blow to his career.Teek made a fourth pre-trial appearance in the High Court on Wednesday last week.His trial had been set to start today, but will have to be rescheduled, with Teek first set to make another pre-trial appearance in court on November 24.Teek has asked to retire, and the Judicial Service Commission has recommended to President Hifikepunye Pohamba that his retirement should be approved, Kawana stated in a press release.”This would mean that his tenure as a Supreme Court Judge would come to an end immediately and that he would stand trial as an ordinary citizen,” he said.The President has, “in the interests of the administration of justice”, authorised Teek’s retirement “with the effect that his judicial tenure ceases with immediate effect”, Kawana announced.Teek, aged 58, still qualifies to receive a pension as a retired Judge.Friday’s announcement flows from an unprecedented arrest that the Namibian Police carried out on January 31.On that day, Teek was arrested on charges that he had had abducted and sexually molested two girls, aged nine and ten.These incidents are claimed to have occurred on the evening of January 28 to the morning of January 29. It is alleged that he picked up the two children in his vehicle in Katutura and took them, without their parents’ permission, to his smallholding in the Brakwater area north of Windhoek.According to the indictment he is set to face at his High Court trial, he sexually fondled the two girls on the way to his plot and after they had arrived at his house – acts which, if proven, could constitute acts of rape in terms of the Combating of Rape Act.It is also alleged that he gave the two under-aged girls alcoholic drinks at his house.Having become the first member of Namibia’s judiciary to be arrested and criminally charged, Teek faced swift action from the Judicial Service Commission, which is responsible for recommending the appointment and removal from office of Judges to the President.The Commission held an urgent meeting on the day of Teek’s arrest, and recommended that he be suspended.Then President Sam Nujoma suspended him from the bench on February 9.The Commission charged Teek with gross misconduct – one of the grounds on which Judges may be removed from office in terms of the Constitution – on March 10.He responded to the charge on April 28, and the Commission’s investigation has since been pending, Kawana said in his statement.”Although he denies all charges, he has accepted that, even if acquitted in the criminal trial and in the Judicial Service Commission investigation, it would not be possible for him to be able to return to the Bench and properly perform his functions in view of public perceptions after recent developments,” the Minister stated.”Based upon his acceptance that he would not be able to properly continue to discharge his functions following these events, he has applied to retire.The Judicial Service Commission is also of the view that, regardless of the outcome of the proceedings, it would be untenable for him to return to office.”A MAN OF FIRSTS Teek’s legal career has been one of several firsts for Namibia as a country emerging from a history of racial discrimination.He became one of the first black Namibians to gain entry into a white-dominated profession when he started practising law as an advocate in Windhoek in 1976.In July 1990, Teek was appointed as Namibia’s Acting Ombudsman.He held that office until April 1992, when, at the age of 45, he was the first black Namibian to be appointed as a Judge of the country’s High Court.He served in that capacity until April 1999, when he made more judicial history by becoming the first black person to be appointed as Judge President of the High Court.Teek was appointed as an Appeal Judge in t
he Supreme Court in June 2003.That appointment, too, was the first of its kind, since Teek was the first person to join the Chief Justice on the Supreme Court bench in a permanent capacity.At the time of that appointment, there was some speculation in legal circles that he was being groomed to take over the Chief Justice’s post on the retirement of the then Chief Justice Johan Strydom.That was not to be, though – and then came the events of January 31, delivering a fatal blow to his career.Teek made a fourth pre-trial appearance in the High Court on Wednesday last week.His trial had been set to start today, but will have to be rescheduled, with Teek first set to make another pre-trial appearance in court on November 24.