Violent City Police Officer Gets Bail

Jana-Mari Smith

27 June 2011

A CITY Police officer was released on N$3 000 bail on Friday after spending four nights behind bars for assaulting his wife in public.

Sergeant Johannes Makina was put in handcuffs last Monday shortly after he slapped his estranged wife, Allegra Makina, at the Gustav Voigts Centre in Windhoek.

During the bail application hearing on Friday at the Windhoek Magistrate’s Court, Allegra Makina told the court that her ten-year marriage was marked by frequent violent attacks from her husband.

According to her, the last violent attack happened in September 2010, the month they officially separated. Two cases of assault are still pending against Makina.

The officer was released on bail on Friday despite his wife’s arguments in court that she feared for her life if he is released.

Makina’s lawyer Enrico von Wielligh described the slapping incident as a “random act” that happened after Makina was “provoked” by his wife.

Makina’s lawyer furthermore argued that it would be unreasonable to keep him behind bars, seeing that the likely sentence for the common assault charge will be a fine or a suspended sentence.

“Jail is not likely,” Von Wielligh told the court.

Makina admitted last week that he attacked his wife, the mother of his three children, on Monday by slapping “her with an open hand in the face”.

His lawyer said the City Police officer “regretted it very much since”.

The state prosecutor, Beatrix Bianca Boois, opposed bail on the grounds that Makina and his wife have “been in an abusive relationship for ten years. She is fearing for her life.”

Allegra Makina claims her husband has broken bones in her body and has used his service pistol to terrorise her on numerous occasions during the decade of their union.

Von Wielligh admitted that “it is not disputed that they are going through a difficult divorce” and that “the marriage was full of turmoil”.

However, Von Wielligh argued that “the last reported incidence of a violent nature was in September 2010”. He said although his client disputes that alleged violent incident, “nine or ten months have lapsed without any incident”. For this reason, Allegra Makina’s argument that her estranged husband’s violence towards her is escalating, is without basis.

Von Wielligh said the wife’s accusations of threats against her “were very vague” and that she has no “reasonable reason to be fearful of her life”.

Boois told Magistrate Erich Eduard Kesslau that Allegra Makina suspects her husband is stalking her, which is why he was in the same place as she on Monday.

She asked that the court not “take threats and fears lightly”.

A City Police spokesperson on Friday confirmed that Makina has not been suspended from duty to date. However, when the investigation into Makina’s case is concluded, the City Police “will consider what our position is”.

In January this year, President Hifikepunye Pohamba lashed out against the high rate of violent attacks on the vulnerable in Namibian society.

“As Namibians, we must stand together and declare with one voice that these crimes and crimes of any other kind have no place in our society. I urge the law enforcement agencies to leave no stone unturned in pursuing the culprits who attack helpless women, children and elderly,” the President said.

The bail conditions issued by the court include instructions to Sergeant Makina not to go near his wife’s workplace or home.

His wife yesterday confirmed that she will apply for a protection order against her estranged husband this week.

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