The Windhoek Magistrate’s Court on Monday postponed the hearing of Andre Castri Friedel Dausab, 33, an IT technician who faces a charge of murder of a trainee pastor in Windhoek in February last year.
The postponement is to allow the accused enough time to hire the services of a defence counsel.
Dausab at the time of his arrest had worked at the Namibian College of Open Learning (Namcol). The murder victim was reportedly his girlfriend.
Last year August he pleaded not guilty in court but was informed he could not plead insanity as he was found mentally fit to stand trial.
Dausab is accused of murdering Gofaone Motlamme, 33, at the Paulinum Theological College in Windhoek on February 22 last year.
Motlamme, a Motswana who was a pastoral student at the college, was killed when she was repeatedly stabbed with a knife allegedly by Dausab, in what appears to have been a jealous rage.
Dausab was remanded in custody, where he has been incarcerated since his arrest.
Erastus Hatutale represented the State while Magistrate Jermaine Muchali presided.
Chaos broke out at the Windhoek Magistrate’s Court at his first appearance in February last year when he attacked Allgemeine Zeitung journalist Marc Springer, knocking him down with a vicious blow behind the ear.
After proceedings the police had led a very aggressive Dausab out of A-Court.
While walking past members of the public and journalists in the corridor the accused had somehow broken loose and hit Springer behind the left ear, knocking him to the floor.
The police then jumped onto the accused and managed to contain him.
But the struggle continued up to the holding cells with Dausab’s lawyer jumping into the crowd trying to protect his client from any blows.
As a result all accused are now handcuffed when taken to and from court.
New Era previously reported that as a result Warrant-Officer Loide Neis who was in charge at the court was transferred to the Katutura Police Station.
Dausab was not handcuffed at the time he punched the journalist.
Following the incident police officers were asked why the accused was not handcuffed and they said Neis refused to give them handcuffs, allegedly claiming they were for her use alone, sources told New Era.
She allegedly also refused to provide them with guns on the same grounds.
However, the then Khomas regional commander, Major General Desiderius Shilunga, denied at the time that it was the reason for the officer’s transfer.
“It’s not the reason,” said Shilunga then, adding that it was routine for officers to be transferred if they were in a certain position for a long time.
The Inspector General Sebastian Ndeitunga said following the incident in which the journalist was punched that he had made it clear to the regional commander that he did not want to see a repeat and that he should take all necessary preventive measures.