Africa-Press – Namibia. The driver of a vehicle that was involved in a collision in which six people were killed near Henties Bay in December 2014 was correctly convicted on six counts of murder, two judges of the High Court ruled on Friday.
The judges’ finding was made in a judgement in which an appeal of the driver, Jandré Dippenaar (42), against his conviction and sentence was dismissed in the Windhoek High Court.
Dippenaar was sentenced to 15 years’ imprisonment on six counts of murder at the end of his trial in the Swakopmund Regional Court in August last year.
Dippenaar’s case was the first in Namibia’s legal history in which a road accident led to a prosecution and conviction on murder charges, rather than a count of culpable homicide.
Dippenaar was the driver of a vehicle that was involved in a horror collision near Henties Bay on 29 December 2014.
The collision claimed the lives of three members of a German family that was visiting Namibia: Markus Joschko, his wife, Alexandra Joschko, and their eldest daughter, Stephanie Joschko. The couple’s younger daughter, Antonia Joschko, survived the crash.
Three people who were passengers in the vehicle driven by Dippenaar – Charlene Schoonbee, Dinah Pretorius and Jan Carel (‘JC’) Horn – were also killed.
Dippenaar denied guilt during his trial, which started in January 2017, but was eventually found guilty on six counts of murder and charges of reckless driving and driving without a valid licence. Magistrate Gaynor Poulton, who convicted Dippenaar, concluded he had overtaken vehicles at high speed on a blind rise on the road between Swakopmund and Henties Bay in a manoeuvre that led to a collision with an oncoming vehicle in which the four members of the Joschko family were travelling. Dippenaar’s version during his trial was that he had no recollection of the collision or events immediately before the crash.
He also told the court that while he could not remember the collision, he would not have overtaken another vehicle if it had not been safe to do so.
In the High Court’s appeal judgement, judge Naomi Shivute said it was evident that Dippenaar had been driving in a dangerous manner before the crash took place. One of the state’s witnesses testified that he estimated the vehicle driven by Dippenaar was travelling at a speed of about 160km an hour when it overtook his vehicle before the crash, Shivute recounted.
“The evidence showed that the way he drove that day alarmed other road users to the point that they felt compelled to report him to the police,” Shivute observed.
“Even after being warned to drive responsibly, [Dippenaar] did not stop. He foresaw the consequences of his dangerous driving, factored them into the bargain, and proceeded regardless.”
Noting that Dippenaar was a champion rally driver, Shivute said it must have been obvious to him that overtaking a vehicle at a blind rise in the face of oncoming traffic could have deadly results.
The trial magistrate’s finding that Dippenaar was guilty of murder, committed without a direct intention to kill, was an appropriate verdict, Shivute said, with judge Dinnah Usiku agreeing with her judgement.
Shivute also said: “The present case goes beyond culpable homicide. The appellant [Dippenaar] was not merely negligent or reckless, but went beyond that.”
Poulton did not misdirect herself when she decided on a sentence to hand to Dippenaar, Shivute said as well.
She remarked: “The overall sentence imposed by the court is not inappropriate and does not induce a sense of shock. The appeal must therefore fail.”
Legal counsel Albert Strydom, instructed by Petrie Theron, represented Dippenaar in the appeal.
The state was represented by Ethel Ndlovu.
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