Prison termset aside indrugs case

A //KHARAS region farmworker who was sentenced to a prison term of 18 months after he admitted that he possessed cannabis and mandrax valued at N$8 500 has won an appeal against his sentence.

The magistrate who sentenced Donovan Kooper in the Bethanie Magistrate’s Court in February this year did not carefully consider Kooper’s personal circumstances, judge Philanda Christiaan said in an appeal judgement delivered in the Windhoek High Court on Monday.

“In my view, the court overemphasised the seriousness and prevalence of the crime at the peril of [Kooper’s] personal circumstances,” Christiaan remarked.

“To impose an effective 18 months’ imprisonment on a first-time offender who tendered a plea of guilty and who was gainfully employed is in my view too harsh.

The court indeed paid lip service to the consideration of mercy or leniency,” the judge added.

Kooper admitted guilt on a charge of possession of prohibited dependence-producing substances in February this year.

He admitted that he had 142 grams of cannabis, valued at N$1 420 and 59 mandrax tablets containing the prohibited substance methaqualone and valued at N$7 080, in his possession at Bethanie in the //Kharas region on 5 January 2022.

Following his arrest, Kooper spent five months in police custody before he was released on bail.

Magistrate Mulonda Masuku sentenced him to 18 months’ imprisonment, without an option to pay a fine and with no part of the sentence suspended, after Kooper admitted guilt on the charge.

After defence lawyer Percy McNally informed the magistrate that Kooper had the cannabis and mandrax tablets in his possession for his own use, Masuku commented that in his view, Kooper needed to be rehabilitated from his drug addiction.

McNally also informed the court that Kooper, then 31 years old, was employed as a goatherd and is the father of four children.

In the appeal judgement, Christiaan concluded that the sentence of 18 months’ imprisonment was excessive.

She set aside the sentence and replaced it with a fine of N$3 000 or six months’ imprisonment, with the new sentence suspended for a period of five years on condition that Kooper is not convicted of possession of a prohibited dependence-producing substance during the period of suspension.

Christiaan also ordered that Kooper should be released from custody without delay, unless he is lawfully detained on other charges.
Judge Herman January agreed with Christiaan’s decision.