Woman implicated in helicopter crash denied bail

A woman from Swakopmund who has been accused of fraud, falsification of a flight test permit and culpable homicide was denied bail in the Swakopmund Magistrate’s Court today.

This after a pilot and an engineer - Jacques Jacobs and Dirk von Weitz - died in a helicopter crash in the coastal town last week.

Antje Gesa Nauhaus (34) made her first appearance before Magistrate Nelao Brown, who remanded her to custody and postponed the case to 2 October for further investigations.

Nauhaus elected to obtain private representation.

State prosecutor Anita Likius said the State denied bail on the grounds that it is not in the public interest or the administration of justice to release Nauhaus.

"Secondly, the State denies bail on the basis that the accused is charged with a serious offence. The State also fears that granting the accused bail would interfere with the ongoing cases, and lastly, the State fears that the accused might abscond," Likius said.

According to a police report, following a case opened by the owner of Namibia Base Aviation CC, Nauhaus was arrested on Sunday at her residence in Swakopmund.

She was charged with fraud, forgery and uttering between 29 June and 12 July. This after she allegedly unlawfully and intentionally misrepresented fake, forged and altered certificates for the registration and flight test permit of a helicopter to Namibia Base Aviation. Upon her arrest, several cellphones, six computers, two laptops, 141 logbooks and three boxes containing financial documents and invoices were seized from her residence and her office at Namibia Base Aviation, amongst other things.

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