Two of the three men charged with the brutal murder of elderly farmers Gielam Botha (78) and his 80-year-old wife Susara Aletta (80) at their farm Lindeshof near Köes in the Keetmanshoop District want the Windhoek High Court to release them on bail.
Julius Frederick Arndt (41) and Andries Afrikaner (38) lodged an urgent bail application in the Windhoek High Court before Judge Claudia Claasen. Their co-accused Johannes Christiaan (37) was granted bail during a bail application in the Keetmanshoop Magistrate, but he was re-arrested one month after his release on a charge of stock-theft and remains in custody.
The State through Advocate Cliff Lutibezi strongly opposes bail on grounds the accused has a propensity to commit further offences if released on bail.
According to Lutibezi, the accused are habitual criminals with a long list of previous convictions and that they, in the past, committed further crimes when they were released on bail.
Arndt, who during his evidence in chief told the court that he is a rehabilitated man and will not re-offend if released on bail has several previous convictions for breaking and entering and robbery, Lutibezi told the judge.
He and his co-accused face serious charges, Lutibezi further informed the court.
According to the indictment they face two counts of murder, two counts of housebreaking with intent to rob and robbery with aggravating circumstances, one count of rape alternatively violating a dead body, conspiracy to commit robbery with aggravating circumstances and/or murder and/or rape and housebreaking with intent to steal and theft.
It is alleged the three broke into the house of the deceased during the late night hours of 01 February 2018 and stole at least N$550 cash, one measuring tape, an electrical plug, a tire gauge and a bulb.
After the deceased discovered the theft, they arranged for burglar bars to be installed at their residence, but before this could be affected, the accused returned the very next night and gained entrance by breaking open windows or doors, the indictment read.
During the ransacking of the residence, it is alleged, they came across the elderly couple and murdered Gielam by hitting him with a piece of iron and shooting him in the mouth with a .22 rifle that belonged to the deceased. There-after, it is said, they raped the elderly woman or alternatively had intercourse with her dead body after they stabbed her several times and strangled her with a shoe-lace.
The indictment further states that the accused, after the committed the dastardly deeds, managed to open the garage door and loaded the stolen property onto the deceased’s motor vehicle and drove off.
According to the State, the accused acted in common purpose at all material times.
After the gruesome murder was discovered, the police and members of the community launched a massive manhunt and they arrested within hours of the discovery.
During their various appearances in the Keetmanshoop Magistrate Court protests were held against the granting of bail to them.