Procedure for Disclosing Witness Statements to the Defence in Namibia

Extract

In this case the Namibian Supreme Court made a declaratory order to provide guidance in prosecutions in which an accused might seek to obtain the contents of police dockets. Amongst other things, it stated that in prosecutions before the High Court, an accused (or legal representative) is ordinarily entitled to the information contained in the police docket relating to the case prepared by the prosecution against him/her, including all witness statements. The state is entitled to withhold any information contained in the docket if it satisfied the court on a balance of probabilities that it had reasonable grounds for believing that the disclosure of such information might reasonably impede the ends of justice or otherwise be against the public interest.