Iuze Mukube
Two residents of Windhoek accused of the murder of Christof Frederik were slapped with five charges, including murder, two counts of rape, violating a dead human body and defeating or obstructing the course of justice.
The duo made their first appearance in the Windhoek High Court on Wednesday. Elias Namwandi Nandomba (20) and Mervin Beukes (21), appeared before Deputy Judge President Hannelie, were formally charged by the State with five counts.
Antonia Verhoef, representing the State, read the indictment.
The charges stem from the death of Frederik, whose mutilated body was found in a riverbed in the informal settlement of Otjomuise’s 7de Laan in Windhoek in May last year.
The State alleges that during the early hours of 2 May 2024, the two accused encountered an intoxicated Frederik, who was on foot in a local street, Otjomuise.
It alleges the suspects attacked the deceased by undressing the female clothes he was wearing and started chasing and hitting him and eventually stabbed him 61 times with knives.
It is also alleged that they unlawfully and intentionally committed the sexual act by coercive means of applying physical force or threatening the deceased to use physical force.
It is alleged that they did so in the circumstances that the deceased at the time was intoxicated by liquor to such an extent that he was incapable of understanding the nature of the sexual act.
The deceased was deprived of the opportunity to communicate his unwillingness to submit or to engage in the sexual act.
Additionally, the State alleges the accused violated the body of Frederik by cutting off his penis and by inserting an object or a penis or another body part into the deceased’s anus.
The State further alleges they attempted to evade justice and destroy evidence by hiding a bloody knife and a blade under a cupboard and into the ground in a room they were renting.
A pair of blue trousers, a jersey and a pair of shoes belonging to Beukes that had blood on them were hidden in a bag or laundry basket inside their room.
Additionally, a pair of shoes, a jersey, and a sweater top belonging to Nandomba that had blood on it were also hidden, or he instructed others to do so. The State alleges that they committed this act knowingly and foresaw the possibility that their conduct would frustrate and interfere with police investigations.
They acted in common purpose at all material times, said the State.
The matter was remanded to 18 February 2026 for the defence to file their reply to the State’s pre-trial memorandum.
