Dippenaar murder trial postponed

JANDRE Dippenaar’s Swakopmund Regional Court trial in which he faces six counts of murder along with fraud and other charges in connection with a fatal car crash near Henties Bay in December 2014, has been postponed to July.

According to one of Dippenaar’s lawyers, Louis Botes, the matter could not continue this week because forensic experts from Johannesburg who investigated the accident scene required work permits, which take about two weeks to finalise, in order to testify.

In the meantime, accident survivor Antonia Joschko (17), who will eventually give evidence as a state witness, had to return to Germany on Saturday.

She was with her family on tour through Namibia when the car they were travelling in collided with Dippenaar’s vehicle, which had four occupants. The accident happened on 29 December 2014 about 12 kilometres south of Henties Bay.

Joschko lost her father, Markus Joschko (48), her mother Stephanie Joschko (49), and her sister Alexandra Joschko (19), in the accident.

Dippenaar was the only survivor from his vehicle. His passengers, Dinah Pretorius (30) from Gobabis, Charlene Schoombe (24) and JC Horn (27) from Windhoek, were all killed in the crash.

Dippenaar is being accused of driving recklessly and causing the crash, which he denies. He is charged with six counts of murder and charges of fraud, negligent and reckless driving, and driving without a valid driver’s licence.

Antonia Joschko, who was accompanied by her lawyer Eberhard Seybold during last week’s trial at Swakopmund, was not initionally summoned to testify, and no arrangements were made for her stay. In fact, she had arrived at the trial “unexpectedly”, according to Botes.

“We tried to accommodate the situation but because of the work permits that are required, we will have to postpone to a later date,” said Botes, suggesting she should be summoned to return to court in July.

Magistrate Gaynor Poulton said that the fact that Joschko arrived without being summoned, and that the issue with the work permits would take so long, could not be blamed on the state.

The magistrate officially summoned her to return to court and postponed the matter to 12 to 14 July for the expert witnesses’ testimony, and then again to 20 November to 1 December for the possible finalisation of the matter.

Last week, Dippenaar and relatives of the victims listened to several state witness testimonies related to Dippenaar’s alleged reckless driving between Walvis Bay and Swakopmund earlier on the day of the accident, his warning from the police and showing of a driving licence that may have been false, and of a transaction between Dippenaar and the Roads Authority for a driving licence application.

The last witness, who was the driver of a vehicle overtaken by Dippenaar’s shortly before the accident, related to the court the moments before the crash.

The state is accusing Dippenaar of fraudulently acquiring a driving licence, and that he did not have a valid licence.

Dippenaar pleaded not guilty to all the charges, maintaining that he had a valid permit, which he acquired legally, and that he could not remember anything from the accident, adding that he had done nothing to intentionally cause the accident or the deaths.