A contempt of court conviction and one-month jail term with which a Windhoek-based prosecutor was slapped by an irate magistrate five months ago, were set aside by a High Court judge last week.
Judge Harald Geier set aside magistrate Gerrit van Pletzen's conviction of public prosecutor Rowan van Wyk for contempt of court in an order given in a review application that Van Wyk had filed at the Windhoek High Court following a courtroom altercation with Van Pletzen on 13 April.
The magistrate and Van Wyk had a testy exchange of words after Van Pletzen told the prosecutor he would not again postpone a case they were dealing with, unless he knew that the police docket of the case was with the prosecutor general for a decision on the course the matter would take.
According to the court record of the case, consisting of notes by the magistrate, Van Wyk interrupted him when he questioned the prosecutor about a delay in getting the prosecutor general's decision.
The notes also reflect that Van Pletzen warned Van Wyk he would be held in contempt if he kept on interrupting the magistrate, and that Van Wyk then challenged Van Pletzen to find him in contempt - after which the magistrate told him he was guilty of contempt of court, and sentenced him to 30 days' imprisonment.
According to Van Wyk, though, Van Pletzen accused his office of delaying the case, did not allow him an opportunity to address him on the accusation he had made, called him a liar, and shouted at him to "shut up".
Van Wyk states in an affidavit that he "calmly stated that [the magistrate] had no right to address me that way in open court", and that Van Pletzen then threatened him with contempt of court if he continued to speak.
When he responded with the customary courtroom phrase "as the court pleases", Van Pletzen proceeded to convict and sentence him, Van Wyk states.
Van Wyk asked the court to review and set aside the magistrate's decision on the grounds that he was not given a hearing on the charge on which he was found guilty, that he was not given a chance to get legal representation or to mitigate before he was sentenced, that Van Pletzen "was the judge and prosecutor in his own complaint", and that Van Pletzen acted arbitrarily and infringed on his right to a fair trial.
Van Wyk did not serve any part of the 30-day jail term, after the magistrate released him later on 13 April on a warning from the court.
Van Pletzen, the Magistrates Commission, and the chief magistrate, who were cited as respondents in Van Wyk's review application, did not oppose the application.
