{"id":59807,"date":"2023-12-09T15:23:13","date_gmt":"2023-12-09T15:23:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/van-wyks-lawyer-vows-to-file-recusal-application-against-current-fishrot-judge"},"modified":"2023-12-09T15:27:22","modified_gmt":"2023-12-09T15:27:22","slug":"van-wyks-lawyer-vows-to-file-recusal-application-against-current-fishrot-judge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/van-wyks-lawyer-vows-to-file-recusal-application-against-current-fishrot-judge","title":{"rendered":"Van Wyk\u2019s lawyer vows to file recusal application against current Fishrot judge"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Namibia. <\/strong><\/span>ADVOCATE Mbanga Siyomunji, representing Nigel van Wyk in the Fishrot trial, has pledged to file an application to recuse Acting Judge Moses Chinhengo from presiding over the trial.<\/p>\n

Siyomunji made this promise, assuring that it would be done by the end of the day, following a back-and-forth debate between him and the judge regarding the interpretation of Van Wyk\u2019s plea.<\/p>\n

This debate arose because Judge Chinhengo entered Van Wyk\u2019s plea to Charge 1, which is racketeering, as \u201cnot guilty,\u201d despite Van Wyk\u2019s lawyer asserting that his client wasn\u2019t pleading \u201cnot guilty\u201d but maintaining a neutral stance for the time being.<\/p>\n

Van Wyk explained his reluctance to plea, citing an ongoing review application challenging several charges against him. Considering this explanation, Siyomunji argued that this stance should be considered neutral rather than a refusal to plea.<\/p>\n

Van Wyk also clarified that some charges were made against him jointly with two co-accused \u2014 James Hatuikulipi and Sacky Shanghala \u2014 as he was their employee for two years. As Hatuikulipi and Shanghala hadn\u2019t pleaded due to lack of legal representation, Van Wyk said he couldn\u2019t plea to those charges until the other two have pleaded, as they were charged with common purpose.<\/p>\n

Judge Chinhengo dismissed these arguments, insisting that a refusal to plea would be noted as a \u201cnot guilty\u201d plea. This led to a tense exchange between him and Siyomunji, with the latter questioning the urgency of the trial and vowing to submit a recusal application before the day ended.<\/p>\n

Prior to this, Siyomunji had raised concerns about the judge\u2019s reluctance to consider a recusal notice from another Fishrot accused: Bernard Esau.<\/p>\n

Esau, represented by Florian Beukes, who was once again absent due to medical reasons, pleaded not guilty to racketeering but stressed that it was under duress, citing irregularities in the indictment and discordance with the presiding judge.<\/p>\n

Emphasizing that he is not representing Esau but merely speaking up as an officer of the law, Siyomunji informed the judge of Esau\u2019s recusal notice, suggesting the trial be halted to address it. However, Judge Chinhengo requested the specific legal grounds for such action, which Siyomunji was unable to provide at that moment, resulting in the continuation of the court proceedings.<\/p>\n

Judge Chinhengo also recorded Shanghala\u2019s plea as \u201cnot guilty\u201d after Shanghala highlighted his inability to plea due to lack of legal representation. This is a matter that Shanghala highlighted earlier this week when he argued that the judge\u2019s insistence on proceeding with the trial without him being able to secure legal representation violates his right to a fair trial as set out in Article 12 of the Namibian Constitution.<\/p>\n

James Hatuikulipi, Tamson Hatuikulipi, Pius Mwatelulo, and Gustavo Ricardo similarly refrained from pleading, which the judge recorded as \u201cnot guilty\u201d. All aforementioned parties emphasized that the \u201cnot guilty\u201d pleas must be seen as the court\u2019s interpretation and not their own, as they are simply choosing not to plea at this stage of the trial.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Namibia<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Namibia. ADVOCATE Mbanga Siyomunji, representing Nigel van Wyk in the Fishrot trial, has pledged to file an application to recuse Acting Judge Moses Chinhengo from presiding over the trial. Siyomunji made this promise, assuring that it would be done by the end of the day, following a back-and-forth debate between him and the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":59805,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,12],"tags":[234,236,233],"class_list":["post-59807","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-policy","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-namibia","tag-namibia"],"yoast_head":"\nVan Wyk\u2019s lawyer vows to file recusal application against current Fishrot judge - Namibia<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"ADVOCATE Mbanga Siyomunji, representing Nigel van Wyk in the Fishrot trial, has pledged to file an application to recuse ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/van-wyks-lawyer-vows-to-file-recusal-application-against-current-fishrot-judge\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Van Wyk\u2019s lawyer vows to file recusal application against current Fishrot judge\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"ADVOCATE Mbanga Siyomunji, representing Nigel van Wyk in the Fishrot trial, has pledged to file an application to recuse ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/van-wyks-lawyer-vows-to-file-recusal-application-against-current-fishrot-judge\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Namibia\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-12-09T15:23:13+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-12-09T15:27:22+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nambia\/sites\/29\/2023\/12\/sm_1702123005.173519.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1024\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"573\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/van-wyks-lawyer-vows-to-file-recusal-application-against-current-fishrot-judge#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/van-wyks-lawyer-vows-to-file-recusal-application-against-current-fishrot-judge\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Van Wyk\u2019s lawyer vows to file recusal application against current Fishrot judge\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-12-09T15:23:13+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-12-09T15:27:22+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/van-wyks-lawyer-vows-to-file-recusal-application-against-current-fishrot-judge\"},\"wordCount\":523,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/van-wyks-lawyer-vows-to-file-recusal-application-against-current-fishrot-judge#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nambia\/sites\/29\/2023\/12\/sm_1702123005.173519.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"africa press\",\"Africa Press-Namibia\",\"namibia\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"policy\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/van-wyks-lawyer-vows-to-file-recusal-application-against-current-fishrot-judge#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/van-wyks-lawyer-vows-to-file-recusal-application-against-current-fishrot-judge\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/van-wyks-lawyer-vows-to-file-recusal-application-against-current-fishrot-judge\",\"name\":\"Van Wyk\u2019s lawyer vows to file recusal application against current Fishrot judge - 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