WINDHOEK – The legal aid lawyer of the man accused of killing a four-year-old boy he cared for as his own son after he heard rumours that he is not the biological father withdrew from the trial on Monday citing conflicting instructions.
Mbanga Siyomunji informed Judge Nate Ndauendapo that he cannot with a clear conscience continue to represent Simon Muno Reeves Dawid, 48, after the latter went against the instructions he gave the lawyer and gave contrary evidence in court. While Dawid told him during consultations that he heard a commotion while he was in separate room from the boy, and the boy had allegedly told him that Joel Nando Shiimi, their neighbour and one of the state witnesses, pushed him from a “high position” and he hurt his right side, Dawid told the court a different story when he testified in his own defence. During his testimony he shifted the blame clearly on to the shoulders of Shiimi, saying he actually saw Shiimi let the boy fall. This caused Siyomunji to reconsider representing Dawid and he asked the court for a postponement to ponder the matter.
He returned on Monday with a decision to withdraw from the matter altogether. Judge Ndauendapo postponed the matter to February 21 to give Dawid a chance to reapply for legal aid. It is alleged that Dawid killed Athanosius Katholo Reeves Simbo who was four years old at the time of his demise in a fit of rage, after he discovered he was not the biological father of the boy. The state alleges that Dawid killed the boy by hitting and throwing him on the ground and against the wall of his residence, killing him due to blunt force trauma to the head. According to the indictment, the mother of the boy and the accused were in a romantic relationship at the time of the boy’s birth on August 20, 2010 and the mother had informed him it was his child.
During 2012 the relationship between the mother of the boy and the accused ended and the boy remained in the custody of the accused, who cared for him as a father and he shared a residence with the boy, who was financially dependent on the accused. But, according to the indictment, the accused became worried about rumours that he was not the boy’s biological father and on July 7, 2015 after a visit with friends, he locked himself and the boy in his residence in Katutura and proceeded to hit and throw the boy on the ground and against the wall of his residence, killing him due to blunt force trauma to the head. Subsequent DNA tests confirmed the boy was not the biological son of the accused.
Dawid is out on a warning. The state is represented by Advocate Erich Moyo.