Five long-term inmates at the Windhoek Correctional Facility succeeded in a lawsuit they lodged for remissions on their sentences to be considered.
Deputy Judge President Hosea Angula ordered the minister of home affairs, the commissioner general of the Namibia Correctional Services (NCS), the chairperson of the National Release Board and the officer in charge of the Windhoek Correctional Facility to consider the applicants eligible for remission on their sentences.
Rachimo Haradoeb was sentenced to 35 years in 2006 for murder and arson; Veikko Shalimba got 36 years in July 2009 for robbery with aggravating circumstances.
Anton Venasi was handed a jail term of 39 years in November 2001 for murder, robbery with aggravating circumstances, possession of a firearm without a licence, negligent driving and driving a motor vehicle without a licence.
David Tsamaseb got 39 years in April 2001 for robbery with aggravating circumstances and housebreaking; and Simon Kankondi was jailed for 35 years and five months in September 2003 for murder, arson and assault with intent to cause grievous bodily harm.
Judge Angula said the only issue to be determined by the court was: when does an offender become eligible for consideration for remission, or how much of his/her sentence should an offender serve before they become eligible for consideration for remission of his/her sentence? The answer, he said, lies in section 92 (4) of the Prisons Act, which reads that “…for the purpose of computing the remission due, every person eligible for remission under this section shall on the commencement of his or her sentence be credited with the full remission period to which he or she would be entitled at the end of such period if no remission was forfeited.”
He added that a concession by the government respondents that this provision applies to the applicants was correctly made as they were sentenced when the provisions of the Prisons Act of 1998 were still in operation.
Secondly, the judge said, the applicants acquired rights to be considered for remission as provided for in the Act, and therefore, along with the proclamation, the fact that a law has been repealed shall not affect any right, privilege, obligation or liability acquired or incurred under any law so repealed.
Judge Angula noted that the applicants are clear that they do not seek to be released on remission of their respective sentences, but that the period of remission is computed that they may have earned during their incarceration.
He granted the relief sought, and declared the applicants eligible for consideration of remission on their respective sentences. The commissioner general of the NCS should thus cause assessments of the applicants within 60 days of the order regarding the applicants’ meritorious conduct and industry, if any, and to report to the Release Board the outcome of such assessments, and for the Release Board to make recommendations to the minister.
The judge made no order as to costs as the applicants were represented by lawyer Thomas Kasita as a friend of the court. The government was represented by Charmaine van der Smit from the office of the attorney general.