Theodore Shipanga (48) refused to tender a plea when he appeared on charges of murder, robbery and defeating the course of justice on Monday.
Shipanga told Windhoek High Court Judge Claudia Claasen that he cannot plead to the charges, as he knows nothing about the whole ordeal.
He was arrested 12 years after the murder and robbery that occurred on 11 November 2011.
The accused was initially charged with four accomplices, but the prosecutor general declined to continue prosecuting the other accused in the matter in which a security company’s vehicle was robbed of over N$1 million, and wherein one of the guards was killed.
The charges against him and his alleged accomplices were withdrawn in May 2014, after the prosecutor general’s decision on how to proceed with the matter
was unavailable after several postponements.
After the withdrawal of the matter, the PG decided last year to only arraign Shipanga on the charges, as the charges against the other accused could not be sustained.
It is alleged by the State that he buried the cash in the ground and in a pot at the residence of his siblings.
After his refusal to plead yesterday, Judge Claasen entered a plea of not guilty on his behalf. A police officer, who was the first on the scene, testified that she
received a report of a Nissan pick-up burning in the vicinity of Ombili in Katutura and proceeded there.
On arrival, she found the pick-up with the letters Southern Cross Security Service written on it.
She observed no smoke from the vehicle, contrary to reports that the
vehicle was burning, and proceeded to open both the driver and passenger doors, which were closed, but not locked, the officer stated. She further said that inside the vehicle, she found a burned spot in the interior of the vehicle.
She also found flesh meat and small bones scattered inside the cabin and a shotgun with one discharged shell
between the seats.
Thereafter, she opened the load box, and found boxes and plastic bags used to transport money that were sealed. In addition, she found a uniform belonging to Southern Cross a few metres from the scene with the name T Shipanga on it.
The officer further testified that she photographed everything at the scene. A few days later, she was summoned by then-sergeant Joseph Ndokosho to a house in Havana, where she was shown money buried inside the house and under a flowerpot, allegedly by Aksel Shipanga, the brother of the accused and a former co-accused.
They were implicated in the theft of N$1.2 million, which Theodore, according to the allegations, stole from the vehicle after shooting dead his colleague before setting the van alight. The incident happened on 11 November 2011, when Theodore and his 22-year-old colleague Shain van Wyk were on their way back to Windhoek after collecting money in the northern regions. Van Wyk was fatally shot in the head.
The police later found Van Wyk’s body under a bridge, 64 kilometres south of Otjiwarongo. Theodore allegedly discarded the body under the bridge along the Otjiwarongo-Okahandja road, and made off with the money. He is not represented, after several lawyers withdrew because of his refusal to cooperate. Anna Amukugo represents the State. The
matter continues.