OSHAKATI – A police officer in Oshakati was convicted in the Oshakati Magistrate’s Court last week Thursday for issuing fake learner’s and driver’s licenses.
The court found Jesaya Goseb guilty of fraudulently issuing learner’s and driver’s licenses to Elizabeth Eita and Leena Shiimi in 2004 and was fined N$7 000, alternatively one year imprisonment. Magistrate Mikka Namweya before he read the judgment informed Goseb that the court had taken into consideration that he is a husband and breadwinner. However, it was his duty as a police officer to fight crime and ensure that law and order is maintained. Namweya further informed him that the crime that he committed is serious hence he could not go unpunished, because the public would lose trust in the police to protect the public.
Goseb was acquitted on the charges that he also unlawfully issued a learner’s and driver’s license to Doifina Ikumba. His co-accused Aron Nghifikepunye Ndola Kaiyamo, who allegedly received the N$6 000 fee for the fake licences and drove the witnesses to NaTis, was acquitted in terms of section 174, because the state could not establish the unlawful role he played. The recipients of the licenses testified that they only did an eye test before being issued with the licences, and that they still did not know how to drive. Goseb pleaded with the court to allow him to pay N$3 000 and the remaining N$4 000 in installments until June.
By Nuusita Ashipala