Windhoek
A man charged with 21 counts, including rape, assault, housebreaking and attempted murder yesterday denied he was in Windhoek when the first rapes and robberies took place during November 2009.
Pinias Kashawa told Judge Alfred Siboleka during his testimony in his own defense that he was in the North when he allegedly, armed with a pistol, broke into a house at Okuryangava, approached three women in the house and threatened to shoot and kill them.
The threat against the three women was reportedly made on November 25, 2009. According to him, his wife, Shikombo, can testify that he went to the North in October 2009 to bury his elder brother, Silas. He only returned in December, 2009 he claimed.
When State Advocate Palmer Khumalo questioned him about other witnesses that can corroborate his whereabouts, Kashawa said that some of his witnesses, including his mother, have died in the meantime.
He says on the night he was arrested, he was on his way home from Monte Christo after escorting a relative, who was taking a bus to the North. He also had N$1 000 in cash with him that he wanted to send with the bus driver to his kids in the North.
However, when he could not find the bus driver he normally uses, he decided to return home with the money instead and return the next day to look for the driver.
When Khumalo asked him why he did not give the money to his relative, Kashawa said he normally uses the bus driver. He said on his way back to his shack in Havana Settlement, he walked along a footpath through Okuryangava and suddenly heard two gunshots and fell to the ground.
“All of a sudden I was surrounded by people, including the police who asked me who shot me and I answered I do not know,” he informed the court, which is trying him for attempted murder.
Kashawa was shot when he allegedly exchanged gunfire with a police officer, Fredinard Nghiliganye, who earlier testified it was only by the grace of God the shot Kashawa fired missed him.
He was then treated for a gunshot wound he sustained and loaded into the ambulance and taken to Katutura State Hospital.
Various witnesses, including his rape victims identified Kashawa as their tormentor during their testimonies. One of the woman he is alleged to have raped said she saw his face clearly as he switched on the light when he violated her and demanded money from her.
Police officers, who were at the scene also testified that a gun – positively identified as the one that fired a shot at Nghiliganye – a bolt cutter, and a cashbox that belonged to one of the victims was found near Kashawa, as well as money stuffed into the shorts he wore under his overall trousers.
Kashawa responded with a blanket denial that it was him, who committed the offences and stuck to his story that he was merely at the wrong place at the wrong time. The trial continues.