Court orders release of ex-magistrate from prison
Controversial former magistrate Hileni Kavara, whose parole was cut short earlier this year, will be able to spend Christmas at home with her loved ones after the High Court yesterday ordered her release from the Windhoek Central Prison.
Kavara was serving a two-and-a-half-year sentence for defeating or obstructing the course of justice and corruptly using her office for gratification.
This after she, then a magistrate in Windhoek, altered court records by making an entry on the court system that ordered the reinstatement of N$50 000 bail money she had paid for her ex-boyfriend Mohammed Shabani. He had seemingly fled the country and the money was forfeited to the state.
She was suspended after an investigation by the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) found her guilty of allegedly amending a case record and reinstating bail in the absence of a prosecutor and court interpreter.
Kavara was released on parole in February this year after serving 15 months in prison in that case. However, she was arrested again on 5 April after someone filed a complaint of assault by threat against her.
On 13 April, the Windhoek Magistrate's Court granted Kavara's bail application in the assault charge and she was once again released from custody, only to be arrested again on 25 April because she apparently violated her parole conditions.
Judge Thomas Masuku yesterday issued a court order obliging the Namibian Correctional Service (NCS) to release Kavara and pay her legal fees for the urgent application she filed at the Windhoek High Court.
Argument leads to assault charge
After Kavara was released on parole in February, she had an argument with an official at the Office of the Master of the High Court's guardian fund department when she inquired about funds belonging to her three minor children, which they received as an inheritance from their grandmother.
According to a statement submitted to the court, Kavara realised that the person knew her and requested to be assisted by someone else. The official's husband then apparently called Kavara and insulted her. According to her, he threatened her by saying: "You will see what I’ll do".
Kavara was notified a day later that a complaint had been filed against her, and she was later arrested.
‘Violating’ parole conditions
However, after being released on bail of N$1 000, Kavara was rearrested based on an allegation that she had breached her parole conditions and was informed that she would now have to serve the remainder of her sentence.
"She [Kavara] has been rearrested due to the risk she poses to public safety after breaching the general conditions of release on parole by engaging in disorderly behaviour," NCS Commissioner-General Raphael Hamunyela said in a letter in May, according to Kavara's statement.
In a court case - which Kavara brought against, among others, Hamunyela and home affairs, immigration, safety and security minister Albert Kawana – she argued that the reasons for revoking her parole were vague and insufficient. She further described the decision as unfair and unreasonable.
"The respondents’ actions violate my right to be presumed innocent under Section 12 of the constitution and seriously infringe on my fundamental right not to be arbitrarily detained," her statement read.
Acquitted
The trial in relation to the alleged assault by threat began on 6 December in the Magistrate's Court in Windhoek and Kavara pleaded not guilty.
The matter was concluded and the verdict was delivered on 13 December.
The court ruled that there was insufficient evidence to convict Kavara of the alleged offence, and she was acquitted.
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Kavara was serving a two-and-a-half-year sentence for defeating or obstructing the course of justice and corruptly using her office for gratification.
This after she, then a magistrate in Windhoek, altered court records by making an entry on the court system that ordered the reinstatement of N$50 000 bail money she had paid for her ex-boyfriend Mohammed Shabani. He had seemingly fled the country and the money was forfeited to the state.
She was suspended after an investigation by the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) found her guilty of allegedly amending a case record and reinstating bail in the absence of a prosecutor and court interpreter.
Kavara was released on parole in February this year after serving 15 months in prison in that case. However, she was arrested again on 5 April after someone filed a complaint of assault by threat against her.
On 13 April, the Windhoek Magistrate's Court granted Kavara's bail application in the assault charge and she was once again released from custody, only to be arrested again on 25 April because she apparently violated her parole conditions.
Judge Thomas Masuku yesterday issued a court order obliging the Namibian Correctional Service (NCS) to release Kavara and pay her legal fees for the urgent application she filed at the Windhoek High Court.
Argument leads to assault charge
After Kavara was released on parole in February, she had an argument with an official at the Office of the Master of the High Court's guardian fund department when she inquired about funds belonging to her three minor children, which they received as an inheritance from their grandmother.
According to a statement submitted to the court, Kavara realised that the person knew her and requested to be assisted by someone else. The official's husband then apparently called Kavara and insulted her. According to her, he threatened her by saying: "You will see what I’ll do".
Kavara was notified a day later that a complaint had been filed against her, and she was later arrested.
‘Violating’ parole conditions
However, after being released on bail of N$1 000, Kavara was rearrested based on an allegation that she had breached her parole conditions and was informed that she would now have to serve the remainder of her sentence.
"She [Kavara] has been rearrested due to the risk she poses to public safety after breaching the general conditions of release on parole by engaging in disorderly behaviour," NCS Commissioner-General Raphael Hamunyela said in a letter in May, according to Kavara's statement.
In a court case - which Kavara brought against, among others, Hamunyela and home affairs, immigration, safety and security minister Albert Kawana – she argued that the reasons for revoking her parole were vague and insufficient. She further described the decision as unfair and unreasonable.
"The respondents’ actions violate my right to be presumed innocent under Section 12 of the constitution and seriously infringe on my fundamental right not to be arbitrarily detained," her statement read.
Acquitted
The trial in relation to the alleged assault by threat began on 6 December in the Magistrate's Court in Windhoek and Kavara pleaded not guilty.
The matter was concluded and the verdict was delivered on 13 December.
The court ruled that there was insufficient evidence to convict Kavara of the alleged offence, and she was acquitted.
–[email protected]
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