Dippenaar asks court to drop fraud charge
State claims he lied on Natis form
Dippenaar faces several charges in connection with a crash in which three German tourists died in 2014.
Jandre Dippenaar's lawyer Louis Botes has requested Swakopmund regional magistrate Gaynor Poulton to drop a charge of fraud (alternatively furnishing false information) pertaining to an application for a driver's licence against him, arguing that the State was unable to form a case around this charge.
Dippenaar faces six counts of murder, reckless or negligent driving, fraud and driving without a valid driving licence in connection with a crash in which German tourists Markus, Stephanie and their daughter Alexandra Joschko were killed on 29 December 2014.
A Gobabis resident Dinah Pretorius and Windhoek residents Charlene Schoombee and JC Horn also lost their lives in the collision.
The youngest member of the Joschko family, Antonia (then aged 16), and Dippenaar were the only survivors.
He pleaded not guilty to all charges. The case resumed on Monday after a 10-month delay.
Joschko was present at the resumption of the matter.
Fake licence
Botes said the charge of fraud and its alternative was based on an unprocessed Natis application form for a new driver's licence.
Initially in 2017, it was claimed Dippenaar produced an invalid licence to a Swakopmund traffic officer on the fateful day of the accident.
The State claimed the licence he produced was fraudulently obtained. Botes at the time argued that Dippenaar did have a valid licence, which was stolen shortly before the accident.
Dippenaar also claimed that he was never asked by the traffic officer to produce a driver's licence, to which the officer responded that he would have fined him on the spot if he could not present a licence, adding that the one Dippenaar presented was therefore fake if the original had in fact been stolen.
Lies
The State claimed that Dippenaar, on 17 December 2014, fraudulently caused the Roads Authority (RA) to issue him with a duplicate licence after he claimed he had lost the original.
Alternatively, he lied on an application form to Natis for a new licence that his licence was lost, when he allegedly did not have a valid licence in the first place.
Five years later, on Monday, Botes requested that this charge be dropped, because - to date - the State could not prove its claims of fraud or lying. According to the lawyer, there was no proof that his client had defrauded the RA and that the application form - which was submitted as an exhibit - was not processed, and therefore could not have been concluded with the provision of a new licence.
Botes said it was true that Dippenaar went to Natis, but on the day, the queue was too long and the machines were broken.
No licence after all
"Therefore, he walked away, not going through the process, and therefore he did not have a licence."
Dippenaar's defence acknowledged that there was no licence, but challenged the claims that there was a fake licence obtained fraudulently. The State was given until today to respond to the defence’s application.
Dippenaar faces six counts of murder, reckless or negligent driving, fraud and driving without a valid driving licence in connection with a crash in which German tourists Markus, Stephanie and their daughter Alexandra Joschko were killed on 29 December 2014.
A Gobabis resident Dinah Pretorius and Windhoek residents Charlene Schoombee and JC Horn also lost their lives in the collision.
The youngest member of the Joschko family, Antonia (then aged 16), and Dippenaar were the only survivors.
He pleaded not guilty to all charges. The case resumed on Monday after a 10-month delay.
Joschko was present at the resumption of the matter.
Fake licence
Botes said the charge of fraud and its alternative was based on an unprocessed Natis application form for a new driver's licence.
Initially in 2017, it was claimed Dippenaar produced an invalid licence to a Swakopmund traffic officer on the fateful day of the accident.
The State claimed the licence he produced was fraudulently obtained. Botes at the time argued that Dippenaar did have a valid licence, which was stolen shortly before the accident.
Dippenaar also claimed that he was never asked by the traffic officer to produce a driver's licence, to which the officer responded that he would have fined him on the spot if he could not present a licence, adding that the one Dippenaar presented was therefore fake if the original had in fact been stolen.
Lies
The State claimed that Dippenaar, on 17 December 2014, fraudulently caused the Roads Authority (RA) to issue him with a duplicate licence after he claimed he had lost the original.
Alternatively, he lied on an application form to Natis for a new licence that his licence was lost, when he allegedly did not have a valid licence in the first place.
Five years later, on Monday, Botes requested that this charge be dropped, because - to date - the State could not prove its claims of fraud or lying. According to the lawyer, there was no proof that his client had defrauded the RA and that the application form - which was submitted as an exhibit - was not processed, and therefore could not have been concluded with the provision of a new licence.
Botes said it was true that Dippenaar went to Natis, but on the day, the queue was too long and the machines were broken.
No licence after all
"Therefore, he walked away, not going through the process, and therefore he did not have a licence."
Dippenaar's defence acknowledged that there was no licence, but challenged the claims that there was a fake licence obtained fraudulently. The State was given until today to respond to the defence’s application.
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