Maria Amakali
Windhoek-In an attempt to regain his freedom, a farmer accused of the murder of a suspected poacher and trying to kill three others on his farm in Okahandja, has once again petitioned the courts to release him on bail.
Kai Rust (45) is trying his luck with the Windhoek Regional Court for the third time in a bid to become a free man following two previous failed bail attempts in the Okahandja Magistrate’s Court last year.
In a brief bail hearing during the trial session yesterday (Monday), Rust’s defence attorney Jan Wessels bluntly stated that the Okahandja magistrate was fed lies during the two failed bail applications.
The defence attorney argued his client was denied bail on a false basis because the prosecution’s evidence did not match the evidence presented during the previous two bail applications.
“There was an absolute fabrication of lies that consequently prompted the magistrate to deny my client bail,” Wessels said in court.
Following the two failed bail attempts with the lower court, Rust took his case to the High court in an attempt to have the lower court’s decision reversed, but to his dismay that court also dismissed his application.
The court ruled that Rust was unfit to receive bail on the grounds that he might interfere with witnesses, who happen to work for him, and the fear he might abscond and flee the country even though his passport expired in 2015.
Rust faces one a count of murder and three charges of attempted murder, but has denied guilt on all charges, stating that his intent was not to shoot at any person but to shoot a stray dog on the farm.
All the four charges are in connection with the shooting that occurred on his father’s farm in the Okahandja district on 27 January 2016.
The shooting resulted in the death of 41-year-old Andreas Ukandanga who was hit by three bullets while one hit a dog. Two of Ukandanga’s friends fled the scene unharmed.
Wessels charged that during the previous bail application and the appeal heard in the high court, the public prosecutor conveyed lies and fabricated evidence in an effort to sway the court to deny bail to his client.
He proposed that his client be granted bail of N$ 8,000 with strict conditions.
Rust is expected appear once more before magistrate Alexis Diergaardt today (Tuesday) for continuation of trial with Filemon Nyau prosecuting.