Iuze Mukube
Murder convict Jandre Dippenaar has lodged an application to appeal a judgement that dismissed his appeal against his conviction and sentence.
Dippenaar became the first in the country to be convicted and sentenced for murder because of dolus eventualis, instead of culpable homicide, in a case resulting from a motor vehicle collision. Due to his dissatisfaction with the conviction and sentence handed down in the Swakopmund Regional Court, he appealed.
He contended that the court ignored, rejected or attached less weight to the evidence of expert witnesses as opposed to eyewitness testimonies.
On 5 December last year, judges Naomi Shivute and Dinah Usiku in the Windhoek High Court dismissed the appeal.
They ruled that “an expert view of what might have probably occurred in a collision must give way to the assertions of a direct and credible eyewitness.”
They added that the regional court correctly drew inferences consistent with the proven facts, made credible findings and that there was no misdirection noted on the trial court’s part.
The judges also found that the sentence imposed was appropriate and did not induce a sense of shock.
“No misdirection on the part of the court a quo is found,” reads the judgement. The appeal against the conviction and sentence was thus dismissed. This year, he lodged the leave to appeal application, contending that a different court may come to a different conclusion.
Although the matter was set down for hearing yesterday, it was postponed after issues were found. Judge Shivute noted that the record was incomplete and that the applicant failed to file heads of argument.
She ordered that the applicant must compile and file the full record and his heads on or before 1 April 2026. The State is to file its supplementary heads on or before 8 April 2026.
She then set down the matter for hearing on 15 April 2026.
The case arises from a car accident that happened near Henties Bay on 29 December 2014. Those who died were Markus and Stephanie Joschko and their 19-year-old daughter, Alexandre, and three others in the vehicle driven by Dippenaar.
Dippenaar and another female from the Joschko family were the only survivors from the car crash.
Dippenaar was sentenced to 15 years imprisonment on six counts of murder at the end of his trial in August 2024.
The court found that Dippenaar overtook vehicles at high speed on a blind rise on the road between Swakopmund and Henties Bay, in a manoeuvre that led to a collision with an oncoming vehicle in which the four members of the Joschko family were travelling.