Windhoek
No one has been arrested in the case in which unknown criminals broke into the Windhoek Magistrate’s Court early last month.
Simon Tangeni Idipo, the senior public relations officer in the Ministry of Justice said: “The case was reported at the Windhoek police station on C.R. 18/07/2015, but no one has been arrested yet.” The court was burgled on June 30 and again on July 01 when thieves got away with a computer on each occasion.
The computers were taken from the office of court clerks, where information about ongoing trials is kept.
One of the windows to the office could apparently not be locked, and this is allegedly how the culprits gained entrance.
The Ministry of Justice has since installed bars on the windows where court clerks sit and also installed burglar-proof doors at the entrance to the court. There are surveillance cameras, but the images are not clear, this reporter was told. Well-placed sources at the court said a police officer usually sits outside night and day to guard the premises, but the computers still vanished without a trace.
Some officials question why fingerprints were taken on this occasion, while they were not taken three years ago when court interpreter, Thomas Mutilifa, and a taxi driver named Hafeni Kafila Kautwima were charged for breaking into the prosecutor’s office to steal a case docket at the same court.
The two were charged with the theft of three dockets bearing details of pending cases of robbery and fraud. Mutilifa was an interpreter at the magistrate’s court, as well as the high court.
He later only interpreted in the high court and has since secured a new job. Mutilifa and Kautwima allegedly stole the dockets after breaking into the then prosecutor, Hendricks Tholiso’s office between January 17 and 18, 2012. Tholiso is no longer at the magistrate’s court, but the case is still pending.
After the said incident surveillance cameras were installed in the foyers and entrance to the court building, as well as an alarm system. Burglar-proof doors were also installed in the corridors.
The latest case is not an isolated incident, as in recent years several hundred dockets have vanished, suggesting that this type of crime occurs on an industrial scale.