… accused has history of shooting dogs
HOCHFELD/OKAHANDJA – A dejected looking Karl Eichhoff (31) who stands accused of the brutal murder last Sunday of cattle herder Axarob Slinger (52) and his three dogs made his first appearance in the Okahandja Magistrate’s Court yesterday.
Eichhoff, who also reportedly buried Slinger and his dogs named ‘Sorry’, ‘Meme’, and ‘Meisie’ in an aardvark burrow was not granted bail because of the seriousness and brutality of the allegedly racially motivated crime.
Farm Vergenoeg the scene of the crime belongs to Peter Eichhoff the father of the accused and is situated about 85 kilometres from Hochfeld in the Otjozondjupa Region.
The young Eichhoff made a brief court appearance before Magistrate Khaepriums Swartz and was charged with murder, ill-treatment of animals and trying to defeat the court of justice by trying to conceal the crime that has shocked the nation.
Public prosecutor Ludwina Mudumbi advised Eichhoff of the seriousness of the charges he faces and the right to legal representation was also explained to the accused.
However, the court did not grant Eichhoff bail with the magistrate citing the seriousness of the crime he is accused of, the media attention the case has attracted and for his own safety as reasons.
Magistrate Swartz informed Eichhoff of his right to bring a formal bail application in due course and he was remanded in custody until his next court date on November 25.
Meanwhile, scores of angry family, friends and residents of Otjozondjupa Region some of whom travelled from as far as 200 km gathered outside court waving placards and shouting for the introduction of the death sentence.
Some of the placards read, ‘What was the motive for such killing?’, ‘We demand custody of that farm with immediate effect’, ‘What is the meaning of burying a human being with dogs, does that mean we are all dogs’.
A sobbing Milka Hangula, brother of the deceased humbly pleaded with the government to look with open eyes and ears into the horrific crime.
“There might be more bodies buried at that farm, so it is important that the farm be cordoned off to enable the police to conduct a thorough investigation,” she sobbed.
She further demanded the killer pay for all the funeral costs.
“Let them do the funeral arrangements, they should pay for everything (sic),” she pleaded.
“How could they have killed my brother like a dog?” she asked angrily.
Residents of Okamangogua a farm 80 km from Hochfeld on Wednesday expressed shock, anger and disbelief at the brutal manner in which the accused lost his life.
When New Era visited farm Okamangogua on Wednesday, around fifty angry residents and family members had gathered outside the deceased’s shack made from plastic under which cowered a dog that miraculously survived the shooting.
Hitjivirue Mungendje who is Slinger’s neighbour said she was writhing with anger over the murder. “This was a bomb waiting to explode,” she charged, adding it was not the first time the accused had shot at their dogs as he had apparently done so with impunity in the past.
“This family used to bribe the police to get out of trouble,” she narrated.
Mungendje said they previously reported several shooting incidents over the past two years and when the community made follow-up inquiries on the cases dockets apparently mysteriously disappeared from the police station and the community suspects bribery and other corruption.
Mungendje said residents went to commemorate the 107th anniversary of the extermination order against the Ovaherero and Ovambanderu issued by ruthless German General Lotha von Throtha at Kozombuzovindipa but when they came back their brother was killed “ by the same Germans who ordered the killing exactly 107 years ago”.
“What does that tell you?” she asked. “We do not have land, where do they expect our animals to graze?” she further said.
“These are the same white people who chased us away from Hochfeld so that they can kill us one by one in these bushes,” lamented the grief-stricken Mungendje.
Maria Kandovazu, a fellow resident, said she was not shocked to hear the news of the shooting since four other dogs were previously shot by the accused.
“I heard six bullets last Sunday and later saw the surviving dog running from the direction where the body was found, that was when we alerted the police,” she said.
“About a year and a half ago the accused shot our dogs and came here with the dead dogs to warn us that if our dogs ever came to his farm again it would not be the dogs he would shoot but their owners,” Kandovazu recalled.
“What can we do we, are very poor and as you can see, we can do nothing about that at all,” she said.
“How could they have killed him and buried him with the dogs, obviously that suggests that they think we are all dogs,” said another concerned community member.
Yet another woman said killings have become a norm and they fear for their lives. Apart from that, she says they are losing their animals on a daily basis. “What we can do?” she asked, adding that animals are not human beings and it is therefore difficult to stop animals going to other parts of the veld.
Inconsolable, another neighbour of the deceased, Peter Xhagup, said he had seen the surviving dog named //Leleke running from the scene of the crime with blood all over it on Sunday.
The distraught family and neighbours have asked good Samaritans to donate whatever they can towards giving the victim a decent burial esepcially that he died so terribly.
On Wednesday, members of the Otjiwarongo Serious Crime Investigating Unit sealed off the aardvark burrow where the body of Slinger and his dogs were buried in an attempt by the murderer to conceal his evil deeds.
Asked for comment farm owner Peter Eichhoff denied all the allegation made against him and his son and claimed that he has been losing cattle due to theft in the area.
“I have always helped these people with food parcels and meat but all I got repaid with was theft,” Eichhoff senior shot back.
Eichhoff senior further did want to comment further and said he was waiting for his lawyer and referred New Era to his lawyer for any further inquiries.
By Kuzeeko Tjitemisa