The incriminating warning statement made by one of the men accused of attacking and murdering an elderly couple at their home in Swakopmund will now form part of the evidence in the ongoing trial.
Yesterday, High Court Judge Christie Liebenberg ordered that the statement made by Simon Shidute Jerobeam (27) on 3 August 2017 is admissible.
The court dismissed his claims that his rights to legal representation, and his right to remain silent and not incriminate himself were not explained to him – and that he was unduly influenced by the presence of other police officers when he was questioned by inspector Rafael Litota on 3 August 2017.
The court noted that no strong evidence supporting his claims were presented before court.
The warning statement which admissibility Jerobeam was challenging contains information, which implicates him and his co-accused.
He indicated that he was contacted by co-accused Daniel Nghilifa Stefanus, who told him that he (Daniel) saw a lot of money at his boss’ house.
Stefanus escaped from police custody in February 2019, leaving his two co-accused Jerobeam and Fabian Hipukuluka Tange-Omwene Lazarus (29) to stand trial alone.
They are being tried for two counts of murder, attempted murder, robbery and housebreaking.
The charges are in relation to the incident that occurred at an elderly couple’s home in Swakopmund, which left Roswitha Strzelecki dead and her husband Siegfried Strzelecki (82) seriously injured. Siegfried succumbed to injuries eight days later in a frail care home.
In his warning statement, Jerobeam explained that on 3 August 2017, he and his co-accused went to the house of the elderly couple at around 04h00 where they hid in the yard for about two hours until they saw the “old lady” open the door near where they were hiding. He further claimed Stefanus strangled the elderly woman.
When they entered the house, he confronted the elderly man who was seated in the toilet where he tied him up.
Thereafter, he left the man in the toilet and found Stefanus in a room where the safe was. Stefanus allegedly tried to open the safe but failed.
He then told Stefanus they should leave and as they were heading out, he picked up camera lenses on a sofa in the sitting room.
The prosecution is alleging that the group could not access the content of the couple’s safe as they had replaced the locks of the safe after the key went missing.
Thus, Jerobeam and his co-accused only managed to take a cell phone, valued at N$8 000, cash of N$1 000, remote control of the house, as well as sandals belonging to one of the deceased.
The prosecution further claims Lazarus, who was previously employed at the Strzeleckis, may have made a duplicate of the house key and stolen the safe key, and given them to Stefanus and Jerobeam to commit the crime.
The trial is scheduled to resume on 17 February 2022.
Lawyers, Tjingairi Kaurivi and Milton Engelbrecht are representing the accused.
– mamakali@nepc.com.na