Convicted drug dealers, Grant Noble and Dinath Azhar, will only know in April if they were successful in their quest to sway the High Court into granting them leave to petition the Supreme Court over their sentence. The two were informed yesterday by judge Orben Sibeya that he will deliver judgement in their matter on 13 April.
Noble (41) and Azhar (66) are appealing their sentences after Sibeya convicted them on a charge of dealing in 412 kilogrammes of cocaine, with a local street-market value of about N$206 million. They also faced one count of money laundering but were acquitted, as the judge found a duplication of charges.
As a consequence of their conviction on the count of dealing in cocaine, they were subsequently sentenced to an effective jail term of seven years each.
In their application, Noble and Azhar’s lawyer Sisa Namandje said there are discrepancies in the testimonies of police chief inspector Charles Goagoseb during the bail hearing and main trial.
Namandje said vast discrepancies in the two versions are material and could have an impact on the appeal hearing.
He said, in the bail hearing, Goagoseb defended commissioner Sylvanus Ngishidimbwa’s fraudulent obtaining of the search warrant to open and search the container and his second version that the fraudulent warrant was not used to open and search the container. The container in question is the one they imported from Brazil, and which was ostensibly containing copy paper.
However, upon opening the container, the police found 412kg of cocaine worth an estimated N$206 million.
The cocaine was hidden between the copy paper boxes.
Namandje also asked the court to consider whether an offence was committed by the convicts.
According to him, they cannot be held personally liable for an offence committed by a corporate entity.
He further said there is no proof of who put the cocaine in the container, as no investigations were carried out to that effect. All these unexplained circumstances put a dent in the State’s case, he said.
Namandje also asked the court to consider whether an offence was committed by the convicts.
According to him, they cannot be held personally liable for an offence committed by a corporate entity.
He further said there is no proof of who put the cocaine in the container, as no investigations were carried out to that effect. All these unexplained circumstances put a dent in the State’s case, he said.
However, state prosecutor Timo Itula said Noble and Azhar have no prospects of success should they be granted leave to petition the Supreme Court.
He said the High Court weighed up all the evidence for and against theirs and came to a just conclusion.
According to Itula, the court was correct in its finding that Noble and Azhar used closed corporations as a front for their illegal activities – and as such, they are responsible for importing the largest amount of cocaine in the history of Namibia.
Noble and Azhar remain incarcerated at the Windhoek Correctional facility.
– mamakali@nepc.com.na