2016-11-15Staff Report 2 Windhoek - The police have finished their investigation into the case wherein a man is accused of murdering two women and then setting his victims alight at a dumpsite near Pionierspark iN Windhoek. Public Prosecutor Ivann Tjizu yesterday told Magistrate Sebby Alweendo that the State is ready to charge to Lukas Nicodemus, 46, in terms of Section 119 of the Criminal Procedures Act. A Section 119 plea is for an accused to indicate what his plea will be at the start of trial and for the PG to decide on what charges and in which court he will be tried. Nicodemus’ legal representative, Milton Engelbrecht, confirmed that his client is ready to enter a plea in terms of Section 119. Alweendo then postponed the matter to December 9. Nicodemus was found fit to stand trial after a 30-day psychological observation. Dr Frederika Mthoko, who compiled the psychiatric report on Nicodemus, said he has no mental illness and was able to appreciate the wrongfulness of the alleged offences and could act in accordance with such appreciation when he committed the alleged murders. She said in her report that Nicodemus does not have any history of mental illness, neither of epilepsy, nor of any chronic physical condition. Nicodemus denied the use of illicit drugs, cannabis, cocaine, heroin, methamphetamine and was under the influence of alcohol the day prior to his arrest, Mthoko said. According to the report handed in to the court as an exhibit, Nicodemus was able to give a coherent account of what he did the day prior to his arrest. He was arrested the day after the partly charred bodies of Clemencia de Wee, 23, and Johanny Naruses, 29, were found still smouldering at a dumpsite in Windhoek in January by a security guard on duty. They were positively identified by family members, Inspector Slogan Matheus from the Police Public Relations Department said at the time. The double murder came to light when a security guard at the dumpsite in the vicinity of Pioneerspark came across the smouldering remains of two people at around 06h30 on that day. Matheus said then that it was believed that not more than one person was involved in the murders. A black Golf GTI belonging to the suspect that reportedly had bloodstains in it was later impounded after it was found abandoned at an undisclosed location in the capital. “It is suspected that the vehicle was the mode of transport used in the commission of the crime,” Matheus said then. The relationship between the suspect and the two deceased has not yet been established. However, it is suspected that the two women were in Nicodemus’s company before their deaths. It is understood that the police retrieved a SIM card from the crime scene at the dumpsite, which upon further investigation led them to Nicodemus. According to the State, Nicodemus killed the two young women and then set their remains alight. During his first appearance Nicodemus informed the court that he intends to plead not guilty to the charges. Nicodemus is facing two counts of murder, as well as a charge of obstructing the course of justice for the manner in which he allegedly tried to dispose of the remains. 2016-11-15Staff Report 2
