A BUSINESSMAN whose case involving alleged Wildlife Crimes was removed from the court roll last Wednesday has been summoned by the Windhoek Regional Court to face the same charges in November.
According to a media statement, yesterday’s press release by the Office of the Prosecutor General, the police docket in the case in which Hou Xuecheng, a Chinese businessman, and Hamutenja Stanislaus Hamutenya were charged with wildlife crime has not disappeared.
According to the office, the docket in the case of Hou & Hamutenya was still at Windhoek Magistrate’s Court Katutura, whereas it had been transferred to a special regional tribunal dealing with backlog cases. This court is located at Windhoek Magistrate’s Court on Judge JP Karuaihe Street.
According to the statement, the prosecutor general’s office conducted inquiries after a magistrate removed the case from the court roll last Thursday. It issued summonses to have Hou or Hamutenya call back to court to face the charges against them.
Hou and Hamutenya will appear in court once again on 7/11.
Magistrate Leopold Hangalo denied a request by the state to delay the case. He was informed that the docket of the police on the matter was not present at the court, that no witnesses from state had been summoned, and that the state wasn’t in a position decide if it could apply that the case Hou and Hamutenya be separated from that of two other co-accused who ran away after their release on bail.
The office of the Prosecutor General stated that the reason why the docket wasn’t delivered to the Special Regional Court’s prosecutor in the time allowed was being investigated internally.
Hou (46) was charged with dealing in controlled wildlife product and Hamutenya (42) was charged with two counts of possessing controlled wildlife product.
They were initially charged with three co-accused – a Chinese citizen, Sha Zhiwei, Indian national Rajaiyah Kumar, and a Namibian citizen, George Mashala – but Sha and Kumar absconded following their release on bail in September 2014, and Mashala has died, the court was informed during 2020.
The state claimed that five men illegally handled four elephant tusks at Windhoek, 11 June 2014
The state also claimed that Hou, Sha, and Kumar illegally owned a cheetah and leopard skins in Windhoek on the 12th of June 2014.
Hou was arrested on these charges and was released on bail in the amount of N$30,000. This was near the end July 2014.
After a pangolin, a leopard head, and seven zebra skins were found in his possession at Windhoek’s China Town shopping center, he was arrested again and charged with possession and control of wildlife products.
Hou was released on bail in an amount of N$100 000 following his second arrest.
Source: namibian
