By Emma Kakololo
WINDHOEK
Judge-President Petrus Damaseb yesterday dismissed the idea that public opinion and society’s revulsion with crime should play a part in the procedures adopted by the courts in terms of determination of guilt.
Damaseb was one of the speakers at the first annual national conference on crime prevention and safety.
The conference aims at outlining the way forward in terms of crime prevention.
The Judge-President said the country cannot – and should never – entertain the notion that courts ought to relax the rules in order to make convictions easier and in that way satisfy society’s expectation that when a crime has been committed, especially one that arouses public outrage, someone is held responsible.
“We should not seek convictions at all costs,” he stressed.
Damaseb said he was disturbed by what was stated in a document that emerged from the recently held National Conference on Gender Based Violence (GBV) as a recommendation in respect of the judiciary.
“It says, among others: ‘to move the current level of very low percentage of convictions in GBV cases’.
“If it is intended as an objective to be achieved by the prosecutorial agencies, it must be lauded, but if it is meant to be what is expected from the courts, it raises very serious cause for concern,” he said.
In the sphere of criminal justice, he said, the end does not always, or necessarily justify the means.
“It remains the duty of the State to prove the guilt of an accused beyond reasonable doubt in accordance with procedures prescribed by the Constitution, statutes and by the common law. The courts expect no less from the prosecutorial agencies of the State.”
He added: “Public opinion is never a consideration in determining the guilt or innocence of an accused, it is a critical consideration when it comes to deciding on an appropriate sentence to be imposed against a convict ‘.
He noted that although the courts were by no doubt an important element in the fight against crime, imposing severe penalties by courts should not be seen as the panacea to the problem of crime in our society, “but that the society at large should seek to find the answers to the causes of crime and find sociological responses thereto.”
“I am encouraged therefore by the ongoing effort, as well as the recently held National Conference on Gender Based Violence which seek to interrogate the true causes of crime and endeavour to develop comprehensive policies which will, if diligently implemented, make a dent in the incidence of crime.”
The conference ends today.