Iuze Mukube
Following the transfer of their trial to the High Court, three men accused of murder and robbery made their first appearance in the Windhoek High Court yesterday.
The accused are Erastus Mwalipeni Gabriel (40), Iyambo Nicodemus Hango (21) and Abast Nyanyukweni Muya (26).
They face the charges of murder, two counts of robbery with aggravating circumstances and defeating or obstructing the course of justice or an attempt thereto. The allegations stem from an incident on 2 March 2024 in a flat in Dorado Valley, where the deceased, Stanley Sebastian Cloete, was assaulted and killed. The State alleges that the trio entered Cloete’s flat and assaulted him by hitting him with blunt objects on the head.
They further allegedly stabbed him with a knife, tied his hands and feet and shoved a piece of cloth into his mouth.
Additionally, the accused allegedly covered his nose and mouth with a pillowcase or other piece of cloth. Cloete died on the scene due to suffocation.
The three men allegedly stole and made away with items belonging to the deceased.
The items, valued at approximately N$690 000, included a black iPhone 14 Pro Max, an ignition key for a Nissan Note vehicle, a Sansui flat-screen TV set, a black Bluetooth speaker, a silver Apple MacBook Pro laptop, six wristwatches, three bottles of perfume or body spray, four pairs of shoes and other items belonging to the deceased.
The aggravating circumstances are that they threatened the deceased to inflict grievous bodily harm whilst wielding dangerous weapons. An alternative to the second robbery count is a count of receiving or acquiring stolen property.
The State on this count alleges that the three men received and acquired into their possession, without a reasonable cause, the property belonging to another or without the permission of the owner. It further alleges they loaded the items into a Nissan Note motor vehicle belonging to the deceased and made away with it. They further allegedly attempted to defeat the course of justice by dumping or abandoning the deceased’s vehicle in Havana. The three threw away the knife and the ignition key to the Nissan Note car into a riverbed, the state also alleges. The matter was postponed to 24 March 2026 to allow the defence to reply to the State’s pre-trial memorandum.
The State is represented by Antonia Verhoef.