Ya Nangoloh against Moussongela bail

NamRights executive director Phil Ya Nangoloh testified Monday before Magistrate Jurina Hochobes that his organisation does not believe accused Pedro Marcellino Moussongela should be granted bail.NamRights, a national private non-partisan human rights monitoring and advocacy organisation, was founded in 1989 with a mission to stop human rights violations in Namibia and the rest of the world.According to Ya Nangoloh, the charges faced by the Mennonite Brethren Church pastor are among some of the offences in the Law of Nations that cannot be committed in any nation without serious punishment.“Crimes against humanity do not deserve minor punishment, let alone granting bail at all because he (Moussongela) is highly likely to go back into the community and commit the same offences,” Ya Nangoloh said.He was testifying on Monday in the Ondangwa Magistrates Court during a five-day continued bail hearing of Moussongela who is accused of human trafficking, kidnapping, rape and other offences.Among the alleged trafficked people are Moussongela's four children whom he is alleged to have sent to the United Kingdom in 2015.Ya Nangoloh told the court that although the children are in the process of returning to Namibia, they had expressed fear, through a legal representative of the foster home where they are currently staying, of their return if their father was still roaming around freely.He said through the email correspondence he had received from the lawyer, one of the children informed the legal representative that she had witnessed her father raping a 15 year-old girl and sexually abusing a woman in their home.She is quoted as having said that she was afraid to return.The human rights advocate also told the court that granting bail to the accused while all his victims have not been discovered, would be like releasing a wolf among sheep.He emphasised the complexity of the case and suggested that the case be moved to the High Court as he believes more justice will be done there.The bail hearing continued yesterday with the cross examination process.Defence lawyer Tuwilika Shailemo is representing Moussongela, while Prosecutor Dollien //Gowases is representing the state. NAMPA

Ya Nangoloh against Moussongela bail

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Namibian Sun 2025-05-08

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Ya Nangoloh against Moussongela bail

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Namibian Sun 2025-05-08

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