Keetmanshoop
A shebeen owner charged with murder for hacking a customer to death with a panga will make his first appearance in the Keetmanshoop Regional Court where the case has been referred.
After the case could not start for over a year in the district court, it will now be heard in the regional court on September 28.
Matias ‘Chi-Chi’ Shikongo, 41, was arrested last year for allegedly hacking a customer to death with a panga.
The accused also faces two counts of assault with intent to do grievous bodily harm and three similar cases for allegedly attacking other customers on three different occasions at his bar.
Shikongo is accused of hacking to death a 26-year-old man with a panga on June 7 last year in Keetmanshoop’s Noordhoek residential area.
It is alleged the accused and the victim had a quarrel at the accused’s bar, after which the suspect together with his dogs chased the deceased, and hacked him on the head several times, while Shikongo’s dogs also reportedly bit the victim.
The 41-year-old has been in police custody since his arrest despite numerous attempts to get bail.
The State has repeatedly opposed bail saying the accused might interfere with witnesses, and that releasing him on bail will not be in the interest of the public and administration of justice, while the State further argued that the accused is a flight risk.
Magistrate Murray Shikongo presided, while Atutala Shikalepo prosecuted.