Human trafficking accused gets new lawyer

WINDHOEK, 07 JUL  – Windhoek-based defence lawyer Zagrys Grobler has been appointed to represent Martinus Pretorius, a South African (SA) national who stands accused of 19 human trafficking and rape offences committed in Namibia in 2012.
The Justice Ministry’s Directorate of Legal Aid appointed and instructed Grobler to represent the accused during future court proceedings and when his trial begins later this year.
Grobler met Pretorius for the first time on Friday, when the accused made another appearance before Deputy High Court Judge-President Hosea Angula during a pre-trial conference of case management review.
The case was, thereafter, postponed to 22 October this year for the start of the trial as per agreement reached between Grobler and State Advocate Felistas Shikerete-Vendura.
Pretorius was left without legal representation on 29 June 2018 following the withdrawal of his first government-sponsored defence lawyer, Mese Tjituri, from the case.
Initially, the legal aid department wanted attorney Jan Wessels to represent the accused, but the lawyer is fully booked in other courts on the dates set down for Pretorius’ case.
Tjituri cited inability to reach a common understanding on several issues contained in the charge sheet with Pretorius as the reason for his withdrawal, adding that his client has also not provided him with instructions on how to proceed in his defence.
Pretorius’ trial, which High Court Deputy Judge-President Angula has been assigned to preside over, is scheduled to run until 26 October 2018.
The 47-year-old Pretorius, a former SA police officer, also faces other charges emanating from the coercive circumstances in which the alleged rape and human trafficking offences took place.
These include assault by threat, common assault and malicious damage to property.
He allegedly raped three minor girls aged between 13 and 14 in Swakopmund in the Erongo Region in 2012, before fleeing the country in September that year.
Pretorius was arrested in SA in April 2016, after which the extradition process commenced and concluded in December 2017, when he was finally brought back to Namibia to face the charges.
He was employed at Rössing Uranium Mine near Arandis when the alleged crimes took place.
His co-accused, Namibian Johanna Lukas, who allegedly provided the minor girls to Pretorius on four occasions between April and May 2012, was sentenced to 13 years direct imprisonment on counts of human trafficking and rape.
The judgement was handed down by Judge President Damaseb in August 2015.
Pretorius is alleged to have paid Lukas N.dollars 10 000.
He remains in police custody at the Windhoek Central Correctional Facility with no option to post bail until the start of the trial.
(NAMPA)