WINDHOEK – Magistrate Jermaine Muchali on Friday fined Joseph Mwamba Longo, 25, N$500 or in default of payment, two months in prison for possessing 10 grams of cannabis worth N$30.
Longo informed the court that he used the drugs to help him sleep and he pleaded guilty to the charge of being in possession of the dependence-producing substance.
He said that he was a refugee at Osire Camp.
“I came to Windhoek because I had to sort out a problem, I maintain two kids in Osire,” he said.
He told the magistrate that he has a garden in Osire that he tends to and that he had left his family in his home country.
He further said that he could only afford to pay a fine of N$300 or N$400 at the most.
Prosecutor Verinao Kamahene informed the court that although the accused is a foreigner who was granted refugee status but who transgressed the law.
“I recommend a severe sentence to deter him and would be perpetrators. I recommend a fine of N$500 or two months in prison,” the prosecutor stated.
Longo was free on bail of N$600 that he used to pay the fine.
By Tunomkwathi Asino