‘Struggle kids’ walk away with court warning

A group of struggle kids have been given warnings by the Windhoek Magistrate’s Court in Katutura following their conviction for being in contempt of court, after they illegally occupied land near the Swapo headquarters in Katutura. The 181 struggle kids were further found not guilty of littering and loitering during their court appearance last Friday. Magistrate Ivan Gawanab issued warrants of arrest against four accused, who have been absent from the court proceedings since April last year. He remanded the case against those four until June 6 for them to come to the court and explain why they failed to attend the proceedings. Earlier, defence attorney Titus Ipumbu said in his arguments that City Police Superintendent Eliaser Iyambo had failed to point out the accused who had allegedly littered an unspecified municipal land. “This vindicates the absence of a complaint relating to littering,” he said. He submitted there was no evidence upon which the court may convict the accused of littering. Ipumbu had also argued that it appears that the High Court on April 16, last year issued an order prohibiting the accused from occupying the land in question, hence the charge of contempt of court. Ipumbu had alleged that the charge relating to the court order had been withdrawn by Prosecutor-General Martha Imalwa. He also submitted that the State had failed to produce a copy of the court order. “The charge of contempt of court is irrelevant and has no legal basis on account of the fact that from April 16, 2013 until April 22, 2013 none of the accused had occupied Erf 2465 and Erf 7345,” the lawyer had argued. Attorney Hans Thaurob appeared for the State.