A confession by one of the men, accused of the murder of Walvis Bay businessman Hans-Jorg Möller, revealed the murder and robbery were planned in haste.
The confession, recorded by Swakopund magistrate Johanna Prinsloo and declared admissible by Windhoek High Court Judge Dinnah Usiku, after a trial within a trial, was read into the record yesterday by Prinsloo.
According to the confession by David Tashiya (accused two), the main accused in the matter, Panduleni Gotlieb, received a phone call from someone while they were en route to Walvis Bay about a businessman who had lots of money in a safe at his house.
The man allegedly told Panduleni the safe had at least N$4 million in it.
Tashiya further told the magistrate it was a portable safe, and that he would need at least four men to help him carry the safe.
Panduleni then recruited him and his co-accused – and he went along, as he needed a lot of money.
When they arrived at the house, Panduleni and another man he did not identify went to the gate of the yard while he and another stayed outside.
They then heard a sound, like the gate being broken open, and saw Panduleni and the other man going to the security gate.
At that stage, he said, he saw a light go on in the house and a woman’s voice – and further said he wanted to run away, but he could not, as he did not know where the car they went with was.
He then heard the sound of the security gate break – and the next moment, he heard a gunshot go off.
He and the other man then went inside the house, and he found Panduleni with a woman in front of a built-in safe from where he was busy removing items.
According to Tashiya, he saw the man sitting against a wall, and asked Panduleni if he shot the man – to which the latter answered, “you talk too much” – and then ordered them to leave the house.
They then drove back to Windhoek and dropped Panduleni off in Okahandja.
Chief inspector Reinhardt Maletzky of the Okahandja Police also testified about credit cards belonging to the victim that was handed in at the Police Station.
Doctor David Borowski, who performed an operation on Möller after the shooting, also testified about the operation.
According to him, he had to remove the spleen, some of the intestines and bowels of the victim because they were damaged beyond repair.
He further said he also had to repair four perforations in the intestines and the diaphragm of the victim, where the bullet slammed through.
Tashiya and Panduleni, together with David Shekudja, Elly Ndapuka Hinaivali and Malakia Shiweda, are charged with murder, attempted murder, conspiracy to commit housebreaking with the intent to rob and robbery with aggravating circumstances.
They are also charged with housebreaking with the intent to rob and robbery with aggravating circumstances – and two counts of unlawful possession of a firearm and ammunition for allegedly breaking into the house of Möller during a daring robbery. The accused allegedly shot him when he came to the defence of his wife and children during the early morning hours of 17 June 2016.
They then ransacked the house in search of money and other valuables, whereafter they fled the scene with the stolen items, it is charged.
Möller was then transported to a hospital, where he succumbed to injuries he sustained due to the gunshot. According to the State, the five accused acted with a common purpose.
The State is represented by Basson Lilungwe, Panduleni by Tjingairi Kaurivi, Tashiya by Kalundu Kamwi, Shekudja by legal aid lawyer Tanya Klazen, Solomon Kanyemba represents Hinaivali and Joseph Andreas is on record for Shiweda.
The matter continues, and the accused remain in custody.
– rrouth@nepc.com.na