[meteorite-list] Gibeon Meteorite Smuggling Case Withdrawn

From: Ron Baalke <baalke_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu Apr 22 10:31:15 2004
Message-ID: <200404201717.KAA05208_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>

http://allafrica.com/stories/200404200352.html

Meteorite Smuggling Case Withdrawn
The Namibian (Windhoek)
April 20, 2004

Werner Menges
Windhoek

REPEATED delays in getting the case to trial dealt a blow
to the prosecution in the case of a Windhoek resident
accused of the theft and illegal export of meteorites from
Namibia.

All charges had to be withdrawn against minerals dealer
Walter Horst (59) in the Windhoek Magistrate's Court last
Tuesday.

The State now has one more option open to it to try to
salvage the case.

According to Ruth Herunga, Control Public Prosecutor in the
Windhoek Magistrate's Court, the prosecution intends to
issue a summons to Horst, notifying him that he will have to
return to court to face the charges that had been pending
against him since September 2001.

Witnesses who were to testify for the prosecution against
Horst would also have to be re-summonsed to court once
the prosecution is finally ready to proceed with the case
against Horst, she added.

Last week's withdrawal of the long pending charges appear
to have been the result of a lack of communication and
co-operation between the Police and the prosecution.

Horst had been accused of having been involved in the
illegal smuggling of meteorites from Namibia - were they
are protected by law and may not be moved from where they
are found or exported.

Namibia is internationally known as one of the world's
prime spots where meteorites have been discovered.

The Gibeon area in the south of the country is especially
well-known for the large number of space debris that has
fallen to earth there in what has become known as the Gibeon
meteorite shower.

Meteorites are in demand with international collectors who
are often prepared to pay thousands of US dollars for large
specimens.

Meteorites from Gibeon are being advertised for sale on
collectors' websites on the Internet - all illegally, since
export is forbidden.

Horst is one of the only people ever to have been prosecuted
in Namibia for alleged involvement in this smuggling trade.

He was first arrested in September 2001 on charges that he
had been found in possession of a rhino horn, and that he
had also received a meteorite weighing some 296 kg from
three men who had allegedly stolen it from a display in
Windhoek's Post Street Mall.

Horst was released on bail of N$10 000 on those charges.

Less than a year later, in August 2002, he was arrested again
when he was allegedly caught trying to send a crate containing
four meteorites to an address in Johannesburg.

He spent three weeks in custody before he was released again
on bail of N$10 000.

On October 17 2002, the two cases against Horst were
consolidated into one.

After that, the remaining case returned to court repeatedly,
only to be postponed time and again.

Last Tuesday was the twelfth time that Horst appeared in court
on the first charges that arose in September 2001.

By last Tuesday, his case had been postponed for a "final remand"
three times, and after that for a "final final remand" once more,
before it was postponed one more time in December - then
because the Magistrate, who was supposed to be dealing with the
matter, was not present at court.

According to the record of the case, Horst himself was responsible
for one request for a postponement.

His lawyer also once asked for more time because the contents of
the Police docket containing the evidence that had been gathered
during the investigation had not been disclosed to the defence yet.

The State asked for the other nine postponements.

Last week, the docket threw the final wrench in the works for
the prosecution.

Public Prosecutor Karin van Wyk told Magistrate Elina Nandago
that the investigating officer in the case had been asked to send
the docket to the court three weeks before the scheduled start
of the trial, which was to be last week.

That was not done, though.

Instead she was told by the officer last Tuesday that he would be
travelling out of Namibia - with the result that not even he would
be at court to testify.

As a result, she withdrew the charges.

Due to the repeated delays in his case, the court had already
ordered in August last year that Horst's bail money had to
be repaid to him.
Received on Tue 20 Apr 2004 01:17:00 PM PDT