Maria Amakali
Windhoek
The Prosecutor General has decided to prosecute a mother, who stands accused of strangling her one-month-old baby in 2016.
Liina Lineekela Shaambeni was informed that the Prosecutor General has pronounced herself in her case and has decided that she should stand trial and answer to the events that led to the death of her one-month-old baby.
According to the Prosecutor General’s decision, Shaambeni will take the stand in Windhoek’s Regional Court on April 13 on a charge of murder read with the provisions of Domestic Violence Act for her baby’s death.
Shaambeni appeared before Magistrate Johannes Shuuveni last week from custody after she was denied bail last year.
The prosecution is charging that on October 17, 2016, behind the nurses’ homes at Katutura Intermediate Hospital in the District of Windhoek, Shaambeni unlawfully and intentionally killed a one-month-old baby by strangling him with a rope. During her failed bail application hearing, Detective Sergeant Jefta Shikehama, investigating officer dealing with the case, took the stand and testified that Shaambeni had confessed to the gruesome murder of her a baby boy.
During his testimony, Shikehama informed the court that Shaambeni gave birth to a premature baby and travelled from Lüderitz to Windhoek with the patient’s bus to the Katutura Intermediate Hospital.
In Windhoek, Shaambeni’s baby boy allegedly disappeared, which led the hospital staff to alert the police.
According to Shikehama, after interrogating Shaambeni on the whereabouts of the baby, she finally confessed. Shikehama further noted that they found the lifeless body of the one-month-old baby with a rope around his neck behind the nurses’ home at the said hospital. The officer stated that the string used as a murder weapon came from the baby’s T-shirt. During her preliminary plea, Shaambeni denied guilt by taking a not-guilty plea. Magistrate Shuuveni postponed the matter to April 13 for the transfer of the case to the Regional Court.
Defense attorney Johan van Vuuren represented Shaambeni while Victoria Thompson prosecuted.