Drug suspects' appeal fails

High Court Judge Naomi Shivute yesterday dismissed an appeal by Grant Noble and Dinath Azhar against their denial of bail in the Walvis Bay Magistrate's Court.Noble and Azhar were found in possession of 412 kg of cocaine to the value of N$206 million on 15 June last year at the port of Walvis Bay and were charged with dealing in cocaine.The two had created a close corporation, Zeeki Trading, with Noble as the sole member. Azhar is alleged to be a silent partner with access to the company's accounts. He was also the one with the financial means to open a business while Noble is said to have contributed only his labour.According to Judge Shivute, “It is common cause that the two appellants ordered the container with A4 printing paper through Zeeki Trading. Azhar paid for the cost of the container.” The contraband was found in the container, allegedly imported from Brazil.In their appeal papers, Noble and Azhar asserted that the magistrate had erred in denying bail on several grounds, including finding that the State had a strong case against them.They claimed that the magistrate had based the decision on the public interest in the case, as evidenced by media coverage of the case, a full gallery every time the two appeared before court, a public demonstration and a church petition objecting to bail being granted.Their lawyers argued that the magistrate had misdirected herself by not considering the validity of the charges. The legality of the search warrant was also questioned. The accused claim that the search was conducted before the search warrant was obtained.The State responded that these were all issues that should be raised during the trial and not at a bail hearing.Shivute found that the onus of the State in a bail hearing, which is to show it has a prima facie case against an accused, was met, and that the magistrate had carefully considered the evidence and made her ruling against bail.“This court has no reason to interfere with the court's decision in this regard as it is of the opinion that it exercised its discretion correctly,” she said.STAFF REPORTER

Drug suspects' appeal fails

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Namibian Sun 2025-04-17

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Drug suspects' appeal fails

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Namibian Sun 2025-04-17

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