WALVIS BAY – The government, through the ministry of safety, has to fork out almost N$700 000 after High Court judge Orben Sibeya ruled in favour of a Keetmanshoop businessman whose truck was looted after an accident in 2020.
Businessman Jasper Erasmus Blaauw instituted a civil case of N$699 460 after police officers allegedly did nothing to protect his goods that were looted during the accident on 3 August 2020 between Mariental and Keetmanshoop.
Part of the cargo was scattered at the scene, while some remained intact next to the trailer of the truck, Blaauw testified in the case. The cargo consisted of general retail goods, including meat products.
According to court papers, Blaauw’s defence submitted a video of the looting to strengthen their case.
“In the video, which was submitted into evidence as an exhibit, the police officers were observed standing among the looters. Some police officers were observed at the consignment without physically stopping the looters,” the judgement by Sibeya states.
He added that the video footage also revealed that most boxes were packaged and not yet damaged but scattered around.
“The video footage further revealed that most of the items were in areas that were in a protected space.
There is undisputed evidence on record that despite the members of the public stealing and looting from the consignment in the truck in the presence of the police officers, none of the looters was arrested by the police,” Sibeya stated in his judgement.
Court documents also show that police officers who were testifying stated that they had no teargas, shields, or rubber bullets and were not trained to handle the situation they faced on 3 August 2020.
The Special Reserve Force was later called and contained the crowd. They recovered some of the items.
“The police officers failed to take control of the scene of the accident and to prevent the members of the public from looting. I am convinced that had the police reasonably acted to protect the items, the consignment would not have been looted. In any event, by the time that the Special Reserve Force (reinforcement) arrived, the consignment was already looted,” the judge stated.
He, after considering the evidence, found that the Blaauw proved on a balance of probabilities that the police officers employed by the ministry failed to carry out their legal duty to protect the properties of the plaintiff. As a result, the plaintiff suffered damages for which the defendant cannot escape liability.
“Considering that some items valued at N$7 000 were recovered, it is only befitting that the claim amount, which was earlier agreed to by the parties, be reduced to an amount of N$7 000. I order that judgement is granted in favour of the plaintiff against the defendant for payment of N$692 460.63. Interest on the aforementioned amount at the rate of 20% each year from the date of judgement to the date of payment,” Sibeya said in his ruling.