Werner Menges
5 December 2008
A SERIES of special night court sessions aimed at dealing with traffic offenders and people who have failed to appear in court for old traffic offences started in Windhoek this week.
Starting from Wednesday, special night court sessions for new traffic offenders and prior offenders who have not bothered to appear in court after they received summonses to do so are scheduled to be held in the Windhoek Magistrate's Court until mid-January.
In a joint operation of the Windhoek City Police, the Motor Vehicle Accident Fund of Namibia, and the court, the first arrests of traffic offenders who have ignored summonses to appear in court were carried out in Windhoek on Wednesday.
With 22 people arrested in the operation, which is continuing for the next six weeks, the Windhoek Magistrate's Court in Luederitz Street was in session from 17h00 up to 22h30 on Wednesday in an effort to deal with all the cases.
Between them, the 22 arrested people had a total of 69 cases related to traffic offences and ignored summonses to appear in court pending against them.
Of these cases, Magistrate Elsie Schickerling managed to finalise 37, while the remaining cases were scheduled to be dealt with at another court session yesterday.
For people whose cases could not be finalised by 22h30, the news was bad: they had to spend the night in Police custody until their cases could be dealt with yesterday.
The same fate could be in store for people arrested as the special traffic operation continues until mid-January.
According to Magistrate Schickerling, another night court session was scheduled to take place yesterday, with further sessions scheduled for tonight, from Wednesday to Friday next week, from Monday to Wednesday the week after that - including on Christmas Eve - and also from December 29 to 31, on January 2, January 8 and 9, and January 13 and 14.
Court fines totalling N$10 175 were collected during the first night court session.
One of the people who appeared in court had ignored no fewer than 22 summonses to appear in court.
Taxi driver David Angolo had the largest number of cases pending against him.
He had been summoned to appear in court on numerous charges of failing to wear a safety belt, speeding, failing to obey a stop sign, and stopping his vehicle in unsafe places or prohibited areas on the road.
Angolo alone paid fines totalling N$5 125 during Wednesday night.
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