Deputy PG Kuutondokwa acquitted

THE trial of a senior prosecutor who was already found not guilty on two charges of drunken driving last month, has ended in the Windhoek Regional Court with his acquittal on two counts of reckless or negligent driving as well.

Deputy prosecutor general Jackson Kuutondokwa (59) was acquitted on the remaining charges that he was facing after magistrate Alexis Diergaardt found the evidence before her did not prove that Kuutondokwa had been guilty of reckless or negligent driving when a car driven by him was involved in collisions with another vehicle on 8 April 2012 and 15 June 2014.

Kuutondokwa was initially charged with two main counts of driving under the influence of intoxicating liquor, but was found not guilty of those charges a month ago after the prosecution had closed its case in his trial. His discharge on the two main counts left him facing two alternative charges of reckless or negligent driving.

Testifying in his own defence after he was discharged on the two main counts, Kuutondokwa told the court that the collision on 8 April 2012 took place when a car driving in front of his vehicle came to a sudden stop.

He said he tried to swerve to the left to avoid a crash, but hit the pavement, and his car then collided with the left back fender of the bakkie which had stopped in front of him.

He realised afterwards that the car in front of him had stopped because another vehicle, which had broken down, was standing in the road ahead of it.