WINDHOEK – The matter in which Deputy Prosecutor General Jackson Kuutondokwa faces a charge of drunken driving in 2012 was provisionally withdrawn when he made an appearance in the Regional Court in Katutura on Wednesday.
The accused is free on a warning.
Prosecutor Seredine Jacobs informed Magistrate Sarel Jacobs that the charge together with a charge of negligence and reckless driving, was provisionally withdrawn. The provisional withdrawal hinges on the decision from the Prosecutor General’s office on whether the case will be combined with a pending case from 2012.
Kuutondokwa is not completely off the hook and has to return to court on 3 September to hear whether the cases have been combined. He allegedly caused an accident in Independence Avenue on 8 April 2012.
In June, while Kuutondokwa’s case of 2012 was still pending in court, he was arrested after he was found to be allegedly driving under the influence of alcohol.
The case was remanded to 3 September during his first appearance in June after the deputy prosecutor appeared in the Katutura Magistrate’s Court.
The case was postponed for further investigations and legal representation.
A hearing was held in chambers, and was not open to members of the public.
Magistrate Surita Savage presided. Prosecutor Peter Kandjumbwa represented the state. He was granted bail of N$1 000 which many people felt was a slap on the wrist because bail in drunken driving cases usually are from N$4000 up to N$6000.
In 2004 he was also investigated after he allegedly rammed his vehicle into an electricity transformer in Wanaheda, in what was described as an accident caused while under the influence. The incident took place after Kuutondokwa’s driving licence, which had been suspended for three months following a conviction on a charge of drunken driving, was returned to him.
He also previously pleaded guilty in the High Court to driving while under the influence of liquor on 8 December 2002.
Kuutondokwa was fined N$5 000 or twelve months imprisonment, of which N$2 500 or six months were suspended for three years on condition he is not convicted of a similar offence during the period of the suspension.
Sisa Namandje represents Kuutondokwa.
By Tunomukwathi Asino