Okahandja cannabis plantation manager bail appeal decision delayed

A judgement on a bail appeal filed by one of the men facing charges in connection with the discovery of a cannabis plantation on a farm in the Okahandja district in May last year is due to be delivered in the Windhoek High Court in four weeks’ time.

The delivery of the judgement was postponed to 21 July after judges Eileen Rakow and Claudia Claasen heard oral arguments on the bail appeal of South African citizen Armand Schultz yesterday.

Schultz (28) has been held in custody since his arrest near the end of May last year.

Schultz and a co-accused, farm owner David van der Linden (43), were charged with dealing in or possessing cannabis valued at about N$52.2 million and disguising the unlawful origin of property after the police discovered a dagga plantation at farm Eendrag, situated in the Hochfeld area north-east of Okahandja, near the end of May last year.

Schultz was employed at Eendrag at the time of his arrest.

According to him, he was employed as a mechanic at the farm. The state, however, is alleging that Schultz was employed as the manager of the farm.

Van der Linden was granted bail in an amount of N$260 000 in the Okahandja Magistrate’s Court three weeks ago.

A third accused in the matter, Johannes Kamati, who is accused of possessing about 58kg of cannabis, valued at N$2.9 million, at Okahandja on 28 May last year, was granted bail in an amount of N$50 000 in an appeal judgement delivered in the Windhoek High Court in December.

Defence lawyer Wihan Brand, who is representing Schultz, recounted in his address to the two judges yesterday that Schultz testified during his bail hearing in the Okahandja Magistrate’s Court that he did not have a key for a gate that gave access to an enclosed area where the dagga plantation was found.

The police also did not find a key for the gate with Schultz when he was arrested, Brand said.

He said the magistrate who turned down Schultz’s application to be granted bail near the end of March this year misdirected himself by relying on hearsay evidence about witness statements made by 14 people who were employed at the farm.

The 14 farmworkers told the police Schultz was a manager at the farm.

Brand argued the magistrate overestimated the strength of the state’s case, attached too much weight to the seriousness of the charges against Schultz, and misdirected himself by finding the state had shown it had a strong case against him.

If there is a fear that Schultz, who is married to a Namibian citizen and has lived in the country for more than six years, might flee if released on bail, such a fear can be addressed by setting bail conditions, Brand argued.

State advocate Maggy Shiyagaya-Lotto noted the investigating officer of the case testified during the bail hearing that 14 farmworkers had identified Schultz as the manager of the farm where the cannabis plantation was discovered.

The court was also informed that, according to the farmworkers, Schultz had taken them to Van der Linden’s house, where they were informed they were going to start planting cannabis and were threatened not to disclose that plan to anybody.

The farmworkers have also told the police Schultz was responsible for operating an irrigation system for the cannabis plantation, Shiyagaya-Lotto said.

She said the magistrate did not misdirect himself in any manner when he found it would not be in the public interest or the interests of justice to grant Schultz bail.

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