Windhoek - A former magistrate suffered a blow on Tuesday when the High Court refused to grant him leave to appeal a Katutura Magistrate’s Court decision to refuse him bail on a second charge of rape.
Jaco Kennedy, 28, will now have to remain in police custody.
High Court Judge Alfred Siboleka presided over the hearing in Windhoek on Tuesday morning.
Kennedy’s privately-instructed defence lawyer Boris Isaacks said after the judgement that he would now send a written petition to the Supreme Court against the High Court’s refusal to grant his client leave to appeal in the highest court (Supreme Court).
“We will now see the State in the Supreme Court as a result of this refusal by the High Court. We will file our papers before the Registrar of the Supreme Court in the next few days,” Isaacks stated.
Kennedy was out on N.dollars 3 000 bail in connection with an incident in which he and another man allegedly raped a woman they had offered a lift to in January 2015.
He was, however, arrested again in January this year for allegedly raping another woman on 31 December 2015, also in an area between the Windhoek Central and Katutura State hospitals, as with the first rape incident.
The Katutura Magistrate’s Court refused him bail in February 2016.
Kennedy has been in police custody at the Windhoek Central Correctional Facility since his arrest on the second charge of rape with no option to post bail.
Kennedy is charged with his cousin, Ray Cloete, 30, for the first rape incident of a 43-year-old woman in January 2015, before Kennedy allegedly again raped another woman in the same area on 31 December 2015.
State Advocate Innocencia Nyoni applauded the High Court’s decision.
African News Agency