Inmate released after tricking Walvis police
Adam Hartman
SWAKOPMUND
A convicted car thief, Isaskar Asser (25), allegedly used a forged High Court appeal judgment to convince officers at the Walvis Bay Correctional Facility that he had won his appeal, and could therefore be released.Seemingly deceived, the officers released Asser after he served only about two and a half years of a 12-year sentence passed down to him in the Swakopmund Regional Court in September 2019.
He was found guilty of stealing a Toyota Hilux worth N$530 000 in Walvis Bay in 2016. He was only 19 at the time. He apparently drove the car to Botswana, where he delivered it, and upon his return, he was arrested.
He appealed on grounds that his imprisonment was “shockingly inappropriate”; that the regional magistrate unjustifiably overemphasised the seriousness of his offences at the expense of mitigating circumstances; that the regional court erred by paying lip service to the three years he spent in custody awaiting trial, and that the court erred in law by disregarding his youthfulness when the offences were committed.
High Court judge Dinna Usiku ruled that the sentence from the regional court was appropriate.
“I find no misdirection by the court and as a result... the appeal against sentence is dismissed,” her ruling read in the original judgment document dated 6 October 2021 – the same document that also stated that Trevor Brockerhoff was Asser’s legal representative.
Forged document
After he was sentenced at Swakopmund, he apparently spent time in the Windhoek Correctional Facility during the appeal. Last week, he was brought to Walvis Bay to stand trial on another matter involving alleged fraud and money laundering.
While being held there, the correctional facility’s management allegedly received a Yahoo email in which the appeal judgment was attached, containing a supposed ruling in Asser’s favour. It is unclear whether someone else was in cahoots with him.
Namibia Media Holdings has a copy of the alleged forged document that Asser used to hoodwink the prison officers, and there are several edited discrepancies featured, such as changed dates, and also that Namibian top lawyer Sisa Namandje was edited in next to Brockerhoff to be included as Asser’s legal team.
The most prevalent discrepancy, however, is the ruling, which suggested that Usiku agreed to all the grounds of his appeal.
“For the foregoing reasons, it is our opinion we are justified to interfere with the sentence to a certain extent,” the forged document read, adding that the sentence be suspended for “docket reconstruction”; and that “Issaskar Asser is released on warning”.
Looking for him
Asser – or someone else - apparently still went to the Walvis Bay Police Station to pay N$4 000 bail on the fraud and money laundering matter, allegedly telling the police he was released and therefore was able to pay.
That may have been the last time he was seen.
When contacted for comment on Saturday, deputy commissioner Erastus Iikuyu, Erongo crime investigations coordinator, said: “We are looking for him.”
SWAKOPMUND
A convicted car thief, Isaskar Asser (25), allegedly used a forged High Court appeal judgment to convince officers at the Walvis Bay Correctional Facility that he had won his appeal, and could therefore be released.Seemingly deceived, the officers released Asser after he served only about two and a half years of a 12-year sentence passed down to him in the Swakopmund Regional Court in September 2019.
He was found guilty of stealing a Toyota Hilux worth N$530 000 in Walvis Bay in 2016. He was only 19 at the time. He apparently drove the car to Botswana, where he delivered it, and upon his return, he was arrested.
He appealed on grounds that his imprisonment was “shockingly inappropriate”; that the regional magistrate unjustifiably overemphasised the seriousness of his offences at the expense of mitigating circumstances; that the regional court erred by paying lip service to the three years he spent in custody awaiting trial, and that the court erred in law by disregarding his youthfulness when the offences were committed.
High Court judge Dinna Usiku ruled that the sentence from the regional court was appropriate.
“I find no misdirection by the court and as a result... the appeal against sentence is dismissed,” her ruling read in the original judgment document dated 6 October 2021 – the same document that also stated that Trevor Brockerhoff was Asser’s legal representative.
Forged document
After he was sentenced at Swakopmund, he apparently spent time in the Windhoek Correctional Facility during the appeal. Last week, he was brought to Walvis Bay to stand trial on another matter involving alleged fraud and money laundering.
While being held there, the correctional facility’s management allegedly received a Yahoo email in which the appeal judgment was attached, containing a supposed ruling in Asser’s favour. It is unclear whether someone else was in cahoots with him.
Namibia Media Holdings has a copy of the alleged forged document that Asser used to hoodwink the prison officers, and there are several edited discrepancies featured, such as changed dates, and also that Namibian top lawyer Sisa Namandje was edited in next to Brockerhoff to be included as Asser’s legal team.
The most prevalent discrepancy, however, is the ruling, which suggested that Usiku agreed to all the grounds of his appeal.
“For the foregoing reasons, it is our opinion we are justified to interfere with the sentence to a certain extent,” the forged document read, adding that the sentence be suspended for “docket reconstruction”; and that “Issaskar Asser is released on warning”.
Looking for him
Asser – or someone else - apparently still went to the Walvis Bay Police Station to pay N$4 000 bail on the fraud and money laundering matter, allegedly telling the police he was released and therefore was able to pay.
That may have been the last time he was seen.
When contacted for comment on Saturday, deputy commissioner Erastus Iikuyu, Erongo crime investigations coordinator, said: “We are looking for him.”
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