Second Outjo arsonist jailed for 6 years

AN Outjo resident who last month admitted that he had started a fire in which 64 Police dockets were destroyed in an office at the town’s Police Station was sent to prison for six years on Friday.

Outjo resident Dawid Schrader pleaded guilty to charges of bribery, theft and arson on August 6. On Friday, Magistrate Albertina Mutilitha sentenced him in the Outjo Magistrate’s Court to a one-year jail term on the bribery charge, two years’ imprisonment on the theft charge, and a three-year prison term on a count of arson.With the sentences set to run consecutively, Schrader faces an effective six-year jail term.A friend and co-accused of Schrader who had also played a key role in the events that led to Schrader’s crimes and subsequent arrest, fellow Outjo resident Louis Steenkamp, was sentenced to an effective ten years’ imprisonment on charges of theft and defeating the course of justice about a month ago.The charges on which the two men have been sentenced had their origin in an earlier charge of rape that had been laid against Steenkamp.According to Schrader, he agreed to try to help Steenkamp get out of the trouble he was in as a result of the pending rape charge.In the end, though, they only managed to dig themselves deeper into a hole – and the rape charge still remains pending.The court was told that they first tried to bribe a Police officer in an effort to get him to hand over the Police docket on the rape case against Steenkamp.When the Policeman refused, Schrader paid a night-time visit to the Outjo Police station, where he by his own admission stole ten dockets from an office through an open window.When he and Steenkamp realised that the docket on the case against Steenkamp was not amongst those dockets, Schrader returned to the Police station.This time, he had a bottle with petrol with him.He informed the court that he poured the petrol into the office, again through the open window, and set the office alight.In the ensuing fire 64 of the 130 dockets in the office were destroyed.Schrader and Steenkamp were arrested shortly after the incident.Shoe prints found at the farm of Steenkamp’s parents close to Outjo and which, according to the Police, matched footprints found outside the torched office, led to their arrest.Both have been in custody from the time of their arrest.Steenkamp now has to return to court on September 18, when he has to appear in the Otjiwarongo Regional Court on the rape charge.Schrader was represented by defence lawyer Boris Isaacks at his trial.Public Prosecutor Bernard Tjatjara represented the State during the sentencing.On Friday, Magistrate Albertina Mutilitha sentenced him in the Outjo Magistrate’s Court to a one-year jail term on the bribery charge, two years’ imprisonment on the theft charge, and a three-year prison term on a count of arson.With the sentences set to run consecutively, Schrader faces an effective six-year jail term.A friend and co-accused of Schrader who had also played a key role in the events that led to Schrader’s crimes and subsequent arrest, fellow Outjo resident Louis Steenkamp, was sentenced to an effective ten years’ imprisonment on charges of theft and defeating the course of justice about a month ago.The charges on which the two men have been sentenced had their origin in an earlier charge of rape that had been laid against Steenkamp.According to Schrader, he agreed to try to help Steenkamp get out of the trouble he was in as a result of the pending rape charge.In the end, though, they only managed to dig themselves deeper into a hole – and the rape charge still remains pending.The court was told that they first tried to bribe a Police officer in an effort to get him to hand over the Police docket on the rape case against Steenkamp.When the Policeman refused, Schrader paid a night-time visit to the Outjo Police station, where he by his own admission stole ten dockets from an office through an open window.When he and Steenkamp realised that the docket on the case against Steenkamp was not amongst those dockets, Schrader returned to the Police station.This time, he had a bottle with petrol with him.He informed the court that he poured the petrol into the office, again through the open window, and set the office alight.In the ensuing fire 64 of the 130 dockets in the office were destroyed.Schrader and Steenkamp were arrested shortly after the incident.Shoe prints found at the farm of Steenkamp’s parents close to Outjo and which, according to the Police, matched footprints found outside the torched office, led to their arrest.Both have been in custody from the time of their arrest.Steenkamp now has to return to court on September 18, when he has to appear in the Otjiwarongo Regional Court on the rape charge.Schrader was represented by defence lawyer Boris Isaacks at his trial.Public Prosecutor Bernard Tjatjara represented the State during the sentencing.