WINDHOEK – The farmer who shot and killed an alleged poacher on his farm in the Omaruru district got some reprieve in the Windhoek High Court yesterday from Judges of Appeal Dave Smuts and Kobus Miller. The sentence of Adrian Lang who was given a straight jail term of three years in the Swakopmund Regional Court by Magistrate Gaynor Paulton was set aside and replaced with a sentence of N$15 000 or two years imprisonment and a further three years imprisonment entirely suspended for five years on condition Lang is not convicted of a crime involving violence during the period of suspension.
Paulton convicted Lang of culpable homicide, two counts of negligent use of a firearm and one count of possessing a firearm without a licence. For the first count of possessing a firearm without a licence Lang was sentenced to N$3 000 or six months imprisonment and N$3 000 or two years imprisonment for the negligent use of a firearm. The charges stem from an incident in April 2009 when Lang shot and wounded Gerson Sabatha when he found him coming from his farmhouse. For this offence Paulton said that it must be taken into account Lang shot someone whom he suspected to be a danger to himself and his wife and acted to protect his loved ones, his farm and his animals. In the other instance Lang was originally charged with murder, but convicted of culpable homicide for killing suspected poacher, Joseph Hamukwaya, on his farm Okapekaha on October 14 2010.
It was alleged that Hamukwaya and another person, Gabriel Matsuib, slaughtered some cattle and game on Lang’s farm after which the anti-poaching unit of the Namibian Police was called in. It was stated in earlier reports that while the two men were busy loading the meat onto a vehicle at the top of a hill, Lang and the officers from the anti-poaching unit approached them from different directions. When Hamukwaya and Matsuib realised that they were being approached by the police, they fled in the direction of Lang. originally charged with murder, but convicted of culpable homicide for killing suspected poacher, Joseph Hamukwaya, on his farm Okapekaha on October 14 2010. It was alleged that Hamukwaya and another person, Gabriel Matsuib, slaughtered some cattle and game on Lang’s farm after which the anti-poaching unit of the Namibian Police was called in.
It was stated in earlier reports that while the two men were busy loading the meat onto a vehicle at the top of a hill, Lang and the officers from the anti-poaching unit approached them from different directions. When Hamukwaya and Matsuib realised that they were being approached by the police, they fled in the direction of Lang. It was further reported that Lang then started shooting, allegedly to stop them from running, but his shot struck Hamukwaya in the neck, killing him. Lang was then arrested and charged with murder, attempted murder and reckless discharge of a firearm. For this incident Poulton fined Lang N$3 000 or two years imprisonment for the negligent use of a firearm and sentenced him to five years imprisonment for the charge of culpable homicide of which two years were suspended for five years. It was against the prison term that Lang appealed, after he paid the fines totaling N$9 000. He listed 21 grounds of appeal in which the sentence imposed is attacked, accusing the magistrate of misdirecting herself on various aspects and calling the sentence “startlingly inappropriate”. The appeal judges found that the magistrate overemphasised the interest of society when she found that Lang took the law into his own hands.
They said that the facts do not support that contention as his purpose for firing the shots was “not to exact some summary and arbitrary punishment”, but to stop the fleeing suspects in order to have them arrested and brought before court. According to the judges, Paulton misdirected herself when she found that the only relevant punishment in this instance is a custodial sentence and did not even consider alternative sentences. Judge Smuts who wrote the judgment said that if he was sitting as the court of first instance he would have imposed a sentence that did not have the inevitable effect that the appellant should be incarcerated.
“Attaching to the relevant considerations the weight they deserve and balancing them against one another leads me to the conclusion that upon a proper consideration of the crime, the circumstances of the appellant and the interest of society, a sentence which is not custodial will meet the needs of this case,” stated Judge Smuts. The sentence imposed by the magistrate is entirely inappropriate which will result in the appellant at his age spending time in prison, which renders the sentence “disturbingly” inappropriate. During the bail hearing, Lang was represented by Advocate Louis Botes and the State by State Advocate Anita Meyer.
By Roland Routh