WINDHOEK – A policeman reinstated after being exonerated on a charge of being absent without leave (AWOL) yesterday appeared in court on a charge of housebreaking.
The policeman was reinstated a week ago after he successfully challenged his dismissal on a charge of being AWOL. However, he made his first appearance in the Windhoek Magistrate’s Court yesterday on a charge of housebreaking with intent to commit an offence unknown to the state.
Moses Narib, who claimed he did not receive a salary for the last three months, was charged with breaking a padlock at the canteen of Bravo Base where he is stationed. The alleged break-in took place last Wednesday night.
After the Prosecutor Kandiwapa Nangombe informed Narib of the charges he indicated to the court he would conduct his own defence and pleaded not guilty to the charges.
Nangombe then requested Magistrate Jermaine Muchali Muchali to grant a postponement and proposed bail of N$2 000 with the condition that Narib not interfere with police investigations or state witnesses either directly or indirectly. Narib informed the court that he was just recently reinstated at his job after he was dismissed last year.
He told the court that he fell ill in October last year and was booked off work for 30 days. When he returned he realised his doctor’s letter ended up with the wrong person. He said he was dismissed for being absent from work for 30 days without a valid reason. He then appealed and was reinstated.
However, Narib said he had not received a salary since October last year and as such was not in a position to pay the proposed N$2 000 bail. According to Narib, he managed to scrape together N$700 from friends and family.
He told Magistrate Muchali Muchali that the people who helped him were also struggling and that he was the sole breadwinner in his family and that he supported his mother who is a pensioner.
“If the bail amount remains at N$2 000 it will be very difficult for me, I do not want to lose this job, I regret that I find myself in this position. This was caused by happenings in my life, I ask for bail to be reduced. I have a fixed residential address, I will not run away, I have a family to support, I even wanted the court to release me on a warning,” Narib pleaded before court.
Prosecutor Nangombe however stuck to her guns regarding bail. She told Muchali Muchali that the charge against the accused is very serious and the value of the damage to the security door was not yet established. She strongly objected to a reduction in bail.
Muchali Muchali agreed with Nangombe and fixed the bail at N$2 000 on condition that Narib does not interfere with police investigations or the state witnesses either directly or indirectly, before he postponed the matter to April 23.
By Roland Routh