Driver convicted over crash that killed three

A YOUNG man who drove a car that got involved in a crash in which three people – including a police officer – were killed in Windhoek in July 2015 is now heading to the Windhoek Regional Court for sentencing, after being convicted of culpable homicide on Friday.

Magistrate Vanessa Stanley transferred the case, in which Morne Mouton was prosecuted on three charges, to the regional court following the delivery of her verdict in the Windhoek Magistrate’s Court.

In terms of the Criminal Procedure Act, a case can be transferred from a magistrate’s court to a higher court if in the opinion of a magistrate it is serious enough to warrant a heavier sentence than the lower court has the power to impose. The magistrate’s court can impose a sentence of up to five years’ imprisonment for culpable homicide, while the regional court can decide on a jail term of up to 20 years.

Mouton (23), who had been free on a warning from the court while he was standing trial, is now being kept in custody, after Stanley turned down a request to extend the warning on which he had been free. He has to make his first appearance in the Windhoek Regional Court on Wednesday this week.

Mouton was prosecuted on charges of culpable homicide, driving under the influence of alcohol and reckless or negligent driving. The charges originated from an incident in which Windhoek City Police officer Manfred Gaoseb and two civilians, Werner Simon and Joshua Ngenokesho, were killed when they were hit by a car which Mouton, then 18 years old, was driving on Sam Nujoma Drive in the Hochland Park area of Windhoek in the early morning hours of 4 July 2015.

The magistrate found Mouton guilty only on the charge of culpable homicide, and said in her view the other two counts amounted to a duplication of that charge.

Mouton denied guilt on all of the counts with the start of his trial in January 2018.

Gaoseb and fellow police officers were at the scene of the fatal crash to attend to a report of a burglary in the area. Their police vehicle was parked on the side of the road while they were checking another car, which was also parked, when the car driven by Mouton crashed into the side of the police car and also hit Gaoseb, Simon and Ngenokesho, killing them.

When Mouton’s breath alcohol level was tested at the scene after the collision, it exceeded the maximum legal limit of 0,37 milligrammes of alcohol per 1 000 millilitres of breath, the court heard.

Stanley recounted that according to Mouton, who denied he had been under the influence of alcohol, he encountered a sudden emergency when he saw a person in the road in front of his car while he was being blinded by the lights of vehicles parked next to the road. He told the court the collision happened after he had swerved to avoid hitting the person in the road.

The magistrate noted that Mouton’s version was that he had driven about 120 metres along Sam Nujoma Drive after turning onto the road before he encountered the pedestrian in front of his car. However, when he turned into the road he ought to have noticed the lights of the police vehicle ahead and should have reduced his speed, she said.

She added that Mouton failed to keep a proper lookout and that this pointed to reckless or negligent conduct, which led her to conclude he was proven guilty of culpable homicide.

Mouton was represented by defence lawyer Sisa Namandje during his trial. Public prosecutor Rowan van Wyk represented the state.