An attempt by a murder convict to have his medical lawsuit against the government heard on an urgent basis was dismissed by the High Court.
The attempt failed when Judge Hannelie Prinsloo ruled on Friday that the application filed by Andre Friedel Castro Dausab (42) did not meet the requirements to be heard urgently. Dausab is serving life imprisonment for killing his former girlfriend Gofaone Motlamme (33) by slitting her throat.
“No supporting documents are attached in support of the purported urgency of the applicant’s claim. The applicant also failed to show that he will not have substantial redress in the ordinary course,” said Prinsloo before striking the urgent application from the court roll.
She ordered the parties to file relevant documents on or before 28 July and a joint status report on or before 7 August. The court ordered the head of the Hardap correctional facility to allow Dausab access to his medical files, including his health passport, in preparation for the case management hearing. Prinsloo postponed the matter to 10 August for a case management conference hearing.
Dausab is serving a life sentence after he was convicted of killing Motlamme by stabbing her 27 times and slitting her throat with a knife. Motlamme was a trainee pastor at the United Lutheran Theological Paulinium College in Pioneerspark Extension 1 at the time of her death. She was killed on 22 February 2014.
In this latest suit, Dausab who claims to be suffering from Acute Asthma is asking the court to order his transfer to Windhoek Correctional Facility citing the facility meets the ideal condition for his medical condition.
He wants an order allowing him to make use of his prescribed medical equipment and for the State to provide the salbutamol respirator solution and inhalers without delay. He also wants to receive all types of food provided by his family and to consume this food in whichever cell he finds himself. Dausab also wants the court to order the prison to at least give him 10 slices of bread and an equal weight of rice on a daily basis and provide either fish or chicken in place of pork for his consumption.
In his second suit, the convict is demanding payment of N$10 million for alleged torture he suffered at the hands of the Namibia Correctional Service (NCS).
The lifer is accusing the NCS of unlawfully removing personal data from his confiscated laptop, thereby causing him “an insurmountable loss with great financial and sentimental value”.
He is also accusing NCS of subjecting him to torture for intentionally prohibiting access to his personal computer or any ICT devices thus inflicting “further damages to his hopes and dreams for a better life”.
According to Dausab, he has been coerced and expected not to need, want, wish, hope, plea, request, or ask for anything beyond the authority’s will and convenience. He further said that he is coerced to think that he is rightless and no longer a part of society; that he should forget whatsoever he knew, felt, loved, and had any sort of attachments to, and should regard himself as nothing, but a thing of no value “dwelling silently and aimlessly in space and time, thus buried alive”.
In his third suit against the NCS, he asked that his laptop be returned to him and compensation of N$1 000 be paid for each day from 5 March 2018 for pain and suffering caused by NCS.
This matter was struck from the High Court’s roll. – mamakali@nepc.com.na