Lawyer slams drawn-out Moussongela bail hearing
Congolese pastor Pedro Marcelino Moussongela appeared again in the Ondangwa Magistrate's Court yesterday for his ninth bail application hearing.
This follows a postponement from Friday.
It is now almost a year that Moussongela, who is in custody on charges of human trafficking, rape and assault by threat, has been appearing in the Ondangwa Magistrate's Court for his bail hearing that started on 31 August last year.
The hearing was supposed to resume on Monday, but Magistrate Jurina Hochobes told the court that it could not go ahead because prosecutor Dollen Gowases could not make it due to unforeseen circumstances.
The bail application is expected to be lengthy as the State is expected to call more than five witnesses and his defence team is also expected to bring witness. It will continue tomorrow and proceed until Friday.
The lengthy postponements have been caused by a broken recording device in the B-court, which meant that three magistrates have to share a single courtroom, A-court. The device has been broken since mid-2015.
In February, Hochobes gave reasons for the seventh postponement of the bail hearing. The broken recording device was listed as the main cause.
Hochobes said the A-court could not continue with the bail hearing because the court had too many cases on that day.
Lawyer Norman Tjombe says a bail application cannot go on that long.
“Bail application hearings cannot go up to a year. If the bail application hearing can go up to a year, how long will the trial be? During the bail application, the State and defence are not expected to call that many witnesses,” Tjombe says.
A source at the Ondangwa court told Namibian Sun that all cases that needed recording were being transferred to A-court. This has allegedly caused tension among the magistrates, as they have to wait until the A-court magistrate finishes all the cases on the roll.
“Due to limited time, magistrates end up postponing cases. They do not get enough time in the afternoon to finish with their cases,” the source said.
Moussongela, 56, founder of the Evangelical Mennonite Brethren Church, Mennonite Brethren Community School Namibia and Ongenga English Private School, was arrested on 23 June at his Omafo school following new charges laid against him by a complainant who reported him to NamRights.
At the time of his arrest in the north, he was out on bail after a first appearance in the Windhoek Magistrate's Court where he had appeared on charges of having trafficked five of his own children to England.
He allegedly had delegated someone to drop off three of these children, who are all under the age of 12, in London.
During the last postponement in May, Phil Ya Nangoloh of NamRights told the court that all doors for Moussongela to be released on bail are firmly and permanently shut. He said that human trafficking is like piracy, slavery and this includes modern-day slavery, enslavement and torture. On 22 June, Moussongela also appeared before the Windhoek Magistrate's Court on the same charges and the case was postponed to 1 March next year.
ILENI NANDJATO
This follows a postponement from Friday.
It is now almost a year that Moussongela, who is in custody on charges of human trafficking, rape and assault by threat, has been appearing in the Ondangwa Magistrate's Court for his bail hearing that started on 31 August last year.
The hearing was supposed to resume on Monday, but Magistrate Jurina Hochobes told the court that it could not go ahead because prosecutor Dollen Gowases could not make it due to unforeseen circumstances.
The bail application is expected to be lengthy as the State is expected to call more than five witnesses and his defence team is also expected to bring witness. It will continue tomorrow and proceed until Friday.
The lengthy postponements have been caused by a broken recording device in the B-court, which meant that three magistrates have to share a single courtroom, A-court. The device has been broken since mid-2015.
In February, Hochobes gave reasons for the seventh postponement of the bail hearing. The broken recording device was listed as the main cause.
Hochobes said the A-court could not continue with the bail hearing because the court had too many cases on that day.
Lawyer Norman Tjombe says a bail application cannot go on that long.
“Bail application hearings cannot go up to a year. If the bail application hearing can go up to a year, how long will the trial be? During the bail application, the State and defence are not expected to call that many witnesses,” Tjombe says.
A source at the Ondangwa court told Namibian Sun that all cases that needed recording were being transferred to A-court. This has allegedly caused tension among the magistrates, as they have to wait until the A-court magistrate finishes all the cases on the roll.
“Due to limited time, magistrates end up postponing cases. They do not get enough time in the afternoon to finish with their cases,” the source said.
Moussongela, 56, founder of the Evangelical Mennonite Brethren Church, Mennonite Brethren Community School Namibia and Ongenga English Private School, was arrested on 23 June at his Omafo school following new charges laid against him by a complainant who reported him to NamRights.
At the time of his arrest in the north, he was out on bail after a first appearance in the Windhoek Magistrate's Court where he had appeared on charges of having trafficked five of his own children to England.
He allegedly had delegated someone to drop off three of these children, who are all under the age of 12, in London.
During the last postponement in May, Phil Ya Nangoloh of NamRights told the court that all doors for Moussongela to be released on bail are firmly and permanently shut. He said that human trafficking is like piracy, slavery and this includes modern-day slavery, enslavement and torture. On 22 June, Moussongela also appeared before the Windhoek Magistrate's Court on the same charges and the case was postponed to 1 March next year.
ILENI NANDJATO
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