Corrupt? Go STRAIGHT to jail, the High Court orders

A HIGH COURT appeal by a traffic officer from Oshakati against being convicted of extortion boomeranged badly yesterday.

Not only was Simon Nakale Mukete’s appeal dismissed, but the High Court also decided that he had been sentenced too lightly, and ordered that he should serve two years’ imprisonment for the crime he was convicted of in the Oshakati Magistrate’s Court in September 2003. In coming to this decision, Judges Gerhard Maritz and Kato van Niekerk once again underlined that the highest standards of honesty and integrity are expected from Namibia’s law enforcement officials, and that someone in such a position who indulges in corrupt behaviour runs a very real risk of being sent straight to prison, even if he has no prior criminal record.Mukete, who was a Sergeant in the Traffic Division of the Namibian Police at Oshakati, had been found guilty of extortion after a trial in which he had denied the charge.The Oshakati Magistrate’s Court found that he had extorted N$600 from a taxi driver at Oshakati by threatening to arrest and detain him and to impound his car after the taxi driver failed to stop at a stop sign on the Ongwediva-Oshakati main road.The driver told the court that after his vehicle had been kept at the Police station for one night, he eventually gave in to Mukete’s demands and handed over N$600 to the officer.Once he had told his daughter, who was then a trainee Police officer, about the events, she phoned the officer in charge of the Traffic Division and informed him of what had happened.That set in motion an investigation that led to Mukate being charged and prosecuted, and now sent to jail.The two High Court Judges could find no grounds to set aside that conviction, states Judge Maritz in the High Court’s judgement.On the issue of the sentence that Mukete had received at his trial, the court however decided that there were reasons to interfere with the lower court’s decision.Mukete – then a 30-year-old, married father with two children to support, and a first offender who did not actually benefit in real terms from his crime after it had been reported to his superiors – had been sentenced to a fine of N$3 000 or 24 months’ imprisonment, of which N$1 000 or 12 months had been suspended for three years.However, considering the nature of the crime that Mukete was found guilty of, that sentence was too lenient, Judge Maritz states in the judgement.As a member of the Namibian Police, Mukete had been appointed to a position of authority in which he had to serve law and order, Judge Maritz remarked.He continued to state: “In the commission of this crime he did exactly the opposite: instead of using his position as a Police officer to serve the public, he served his own unlawful interests; instead of maintaining law and order, he corrupted the law he was supposed to keep for his own enrichment; instead of using his office to maintain and enhance respect for the Police in the public’s eyes, he brought the force into disrepute.”He further commented: “The public expects members of the Police to act with integrity and to discharge their difficult duties with honesty and dedication.If Police officers conduct themselves dishonestly and abuse the extensive powers vested in them by law for the good of all to strike fear in the hearts of those they are supposed to serve to extort money or favours from them, it will lead to a loss of respect, confidence and faith in the very mechanisms society has put up through Government to protect it against such abuses.”Extortion and corruption are two sides of the same offensive coin, and they must be fought with speed and through sentences that will demonstrate the dim view that society takes of this sort of crime, the court indicated.Judge Maritz stated in this connection: “The crime of extortion is, in essence, the ‘demand side’ of the crime of corruption.Together, these two crimes have increased substantially in prevalence.Their commission undermines the public’s confidence in the Government and its officers.Those crimes, especially if committed by or in relation to those involved in the administration of justice, weakens the fabric of the bonds that maintain order in society.The perpetration and proliferation thereof must be discouraged by expeditious and effective investigation and prosecution and by the imposition of exemplary sentences to deter others and to give expression to the offence society takes to the abuse of its confidence shown by the appointment of those perpetrators to public office.”Having stated that, he set aside the Oshakati Magistrate’s Court’s sentence and replaced it with a term of two years’ imprisonment, with Judge Van Niekerk concurring with his judgement.In coming to this decision, Judges Gerhard Maritz and Kato van Niekerk once again underlined that the highest standards of honesty and integrity are expected from Namibia’s law enforcement officials, and that someone in such a position who indulges in corrupt behaviour runs a very real risk of being sent straight to prison, even if he has no prior criminal record.Mukete, who was a Sergeant in the Traffic Division of the Namibian Police at Oshakati, had been found guilty of extortion after a trial in which he had denied the charge.The Oshakati Magistrate’s Court found that he had extorted N$600 from a taxi driver at Oshakati by threatening to arrest and detain him and to impound his car after the taxi driver failed to stop at a stop sign on the Ongwediva-Oshakati main road.The driver told the court that after his vehicle had been kept at the Police station for one night, he eventually gave in to Mukete’s demands and handed over N$600 to the officer.Once he had told his daughter, who was then a trainee Police officer, about the events, she phoned the officer in charge of the Traffic Division and informed him of what had happened.That set in motion an investigation that led to Mukate being charged and prosecuted, and now sent to jail.The two High Court Judges could find no grounds to set aside that conviction, states Judge Maritz in the High Court’s judgement. On the issue of the sentence that Mukete had received at his trial, the court however decided that there were reasons to interfere with the lower court’s decision.Mukete – then a 30-year-old, married father with two children to support, and a first offender who did not actually benefit in real terms from his crime after it had been reported to his superiors – had been sentenced to a fine of N$3 000 or 24 months’ imprisonment, of which N$1 000 or 12 months had been suspended for three years.However, considering the nature of the crime that Mukete was found guilty of, that sentence was too lenient, Judge Maritz states in the judgement.As a member of the Namibian Police, Mukete had been appointed to a position of authority in which he had to serve law and order, Judge Maritz remarked.He continued to state: “In the commission of this crime he did exactly the opposite: instead of using his position as a Police officer to serve the public, he served his own unlawful interests; instead of maintaining law and order, he corrupted the law he was supposed to keep for his own enrichment; instead of using his office to maintain and enhance respect for the Police in the public’s eyes, he brought the force into disrepute.”He further commented: “The public expects members of the Police to act with integrity and to discharge their difficult duties with honesty and dedication.If Police officers conduct themselves dishonestly and abuse the extensive powers vested in them by law for the good of all to strike fear in the hearts of those they are supposed to serve to extort money or favours from them, it will lead to a loss of respect, confidence and faith in the very mechanisms society has put up through Government to protect it against such abuses.”Extortion and corruption are two sides of the same offensive coin, and they must be fought with speed and through sentences that will demonstrate the dim view that society takes of this sort of crime, the court indicated.Judge Maritz stated in this connection: “The crime of extortion is,
in essence, the ‘demand side’ of the crime of corruption.Together, these two crimes have increased substantially in prevalence.Their commission undermines the public’s confidence in the Government and its officers.Those crimes, especially if committed by or in relation to those involved in the administration of justice, weakens the fabric of the bonds that maintain order in society.The perpetration and proliferation thereof must be discouraged by expeditious and effective investigation and prosecution and by the imposition of exemplary sentences to deter others and to give expression to the offence society takes to the abuse of its confidence shown by the appointment of those perpetrators to public office.”Having stated that, he set aside the Oshakati Magistrate’s Court’s sentence and replaced it with a term of two years’ imprisonment, with Judge Van Niekerk concurring with his judgement.