A fifth bail application by former Okahandja constituency councillor Steve Biko Booys was dismissed by regional magistrate Leonard Hangalo in the Windhoek Magistrate’s Court on Monday.
Booys lodged the latest bail application on supposed new facts.
Chiefly, the purported new facts include that he applied for the recusal of the magistrate presiding over his criminal trial for alleged bias – and according to him, this will delay his trial even longer, considering the three years he already spent in custody.
He claims the trial has already started, and that it is at an advanced stage. Hence if his recusal application is successful, it will mean a restart of his trial before a different magistrate.
He further said the risk of interference has ceased, as most witnesses have already testified, and that the State is actively denying him the right to properly prepare for his trial by ignoring a request for further particulars, and will therein delay the trial. He also claims the crucial evidence the State intended to use against him during the trial, namely a photo plan, was ruled inadmissible, which weakened the case against him.
He asked the court to release him on a bond of N$10 000, with no conditions attached.
Magistrate Hangalo said Booys must have foreseen the possibility that his recusal application could result in the restart of his trial, and the anticipated delay it would bring.
As such, he said, Booys cannot rely on it as a basis upon which bail should be granted. He further said the applicant is lawfully detained by order of the court.
According to the magistrate, none of the grounds advanced by Booys constitute new facts, and they failed to displace the basis on which bail was previously denied.
Hangalo subsequently dismissed the application to release Booys on bail.
The case
Booys is on trial for the alleged rape of his biological daughter.
It is alleged by the State that he raped the complainant twice in January 2021 at his house in Okahandja.
He has remained in custody since he handed himself over to the police.
Marthino Olivier represents Booys, and the State is represented by Emma Mayavero.