WINDHOEK – Petrus Mbangula, a police officer attached to the Crime Investigations Department of the Namibian Police Force made a first appearance yesterday in the Windhoek Magistrate’s Court on charges of extortion and corruption.
Mbangula, aged 38, was not asked to plead, but was informed of his right to legal representation. He informed Magistrate Tuvoye Nuule that he would engage a private lawyer to represent him.
The State alleges that Mbangula tried to extort N$4 000 from a suspect. Available information is sketchy but New Era has it on good authority that Mbangula went to a suspect’s home and offered to either destroy the relevant police docket of the suspect or to perform an unknown act to allow the suspect not to be charged.
The suspect then informed other police officers about the extortion and a trap was set with marked money. Mbangula was arrested on January 11 after he received the extortion money from the unnamed suspect. His case was remanded to February 13 2014 and he was granted bail of N$1 000.
In a twist to the case, Nuule recused herself from the matter as she explained that her impartiality could be in question as Mbangula is her relative. She asked State Prosecutor Elina Hashipara to transfer the matter to another court.
The matter has know been transferred to C Court for Mbangula’s next appearance. Efforts from this reporter to photograph Mbangula were frustrated by friends and/or family members who physically shielded him from the camera and one of his friends threatened this reporter that it is an infringement of the human rights of Mbangula for him to be photographed. He even went to the extent of threatening to complain to the New Era management should the article appear in the paper. This reporter however persisted and managed to capture Mbangula, although only from afar.
By Roland Routh