Namibia spotlights jail terms for older convicts

It’s the end of the line for an infamous Namibian accused, Dragan Vujicin, who is serving time for rape and human trafficking. Despite a strongly-motivated application for leave to appeal against the length of his sentence, the High Court turned him down last week, saying he does not have good prospects of success on appeal, and that his sentence must stand. That means Vujicin will be more than 100 by the time he has completed his sentence. Carmel Rickard, in her A Matter of Justice column on the Legalbrief site, explains that the High Court was challenged by Vujicin to allow an appeal because of the age he would be at the end of his sentence. Its decision to retain the original prison term will help further clarify this important sentencing issue in Namibia, where there is debate and some confusion over the constitutionality of long sentences, as well as long jail terms where the prisoner is already elderly. Whether the Supreme Court would have reached the same conclusion is another question, however.