By Tunomukwathi Asino
WINDHOEK – Judge Nate Ndauendapo yesterday sentenced Dumingu Zuzee da Costa, 44, and Joseph Wasuka Nunda, 40, to 20 years in jail for killing German flight instructor Ralph Köhnke on December 26 2006.
The two were convicted on August 16 last year in the High Court on counts of murder, robbery with aggravating circumstances and defeating or obstructing the course of justice, alternatively violating a dead body.
Ndauendapo sentenced them to 20 years on the first count, which is a murder; 15 years on the second count of robbery with aggravating circumstances; and on the third count of defeating or obstructing, or attempting to defeat or obstruct the course of justice, he sentenced them to five years in prison.
He ordered that the sentences for counts two and three run concurrently with the sentence for count one. This means that each of the men will serve 20 years in prison.
The accused have already spent eight years and six months in custody waiting for their case to be finalised.
When delivering sentence the judge said the two men are first-time offenders and have been in custody for close to nine years – “and the criminal justice system should shoulder, to a large extent, the delay in finalising the matter”.
“We must also not lose sight of the fact that crimes in our society have increased tremendously,” he stated.
“In my view, nine years behind bars awaiting finalisation of a case is a very long time and in this particular matter the court clearly takes that into account when imposing sentence. There was evidence that the accused are exemplary prisoners,” the judge said.
But he added: “They have not shown remorse for their actions.”
He said the murder of Köhnke was clearly senseless.
Da Costa and Nunda pleaded not guilty to all charges.
Da Costa in his evidence said Köhnke had “black money” and he was supposed to launder it. The judge found that although Da Costa did not inflict the fatal blow to the head, he acted with common purpose.
He assisted in loading the body in the car and drove with it to Goreagab dam and then burnt it, the judge said.
“His greed for money was more important than his friendship with the deceased,” the judge said.
The charge sheet indicated the two men killed and robbed Köhnke, in life a flight instructor at the Namibia Aviation Academy, at his house in Windhoek West after which they took his body to Goreangab dam, doused it with petrol and set it alight in an attempt to destroy evidence and frustrate an investigation into his death.
They were also accused of robbing the deceased of various items including a safe, a car, an unknown amount of foreign currency, two firearms, various computer equipment and power tools.
During the trial, defense counsel Christiaan Nambahu of Nambahu Attorneys told the court that Da Costa had become a born-again Christian and was engaged in studies, while he also taught the Bible to fellow inmates. He said the court should take into consideration that the offences Da Costa was convicted of were interconnected and asked that the sentences imposed run concurrently.
Winnie Christiaans of Christiaan and Asscoiates during the trial argued for Nunda that there was no direct evidence as to what transpired at the deceased’s house that evening. He said the accused chose not to explain what exactly happened.
Christiaans said there was no evidence that Nunda planned to kill the deceased. But while he accepted the court’s finding that the killing was with direct intent, there was no evidence that it was premeditated, Christiaans stressed.
He too asked that the court should consider the lengthy period the accused have been in custody since their arrest when deciding on the sentence.
State Advocate Innocencia Nyoni who took over the trial after Deputy Prosecutor General Belinda Wantenaar resigned, argued that society expected from the court to punish those that transgressed against them.
“The courts have the duty to exact vengeance on behalf of society, or society will decide to take the law into their own hands,” she told the judge.