Eveline de Klerk
Swakopmund-A self-confessed murder suspect who brutally killed his girlfriend in 2017 in Swakopmund walked out of court a free man on January 18 when his case was withdrawn due to incomplete police investigations.
The suspect, Kamboi Kamwangu, brutally stabbed and stoned his girlfriend several times during a domestic altercation at their residence in the Democratic Resettlement Community (DRC) in January 2017. Kambangwu shortly after his first appearance in court confessed he murdered his girlfriend Sharlene Vihanga.
Kamwangu was incarcerated until January 18, when his case was struck from the court roll by Magistrate Conchita Olivier, in the Swakopmund Magistrate’s Court.
Olivier refused a further postponement as requested by the prosecutor Dalon Quickfall.
Quickfall requested the case be remanded for two more months to enable the police to complete their investigations, saying that forensics and science of crime do take longer than a normal investigation.
The case has dragged on for almost a year with no evidence presented.
According to court documents an investigating officer who was handling the case on several occasions did not make it to court and no reasons for his failure to appear were given.
The officer was reported to his superiors who handed over the case to another investigating officer.
Magistrate Olivier on November 15 last year gave the state until January this year to complete the investigation, however the state failed to do so resulting in the case being provisionally withdrawn from the court roll.
It was during the suspect’s last appearance that the prosecutor requested the magistrate to postpone the matter for at least two months so that the state could finish its investigations, as the case is a serious matter.
However, Kambangwu’s lawyer, Susan Hinda, opposed the request, stating that the final remand was set on November 15 already and that the state was given ample time to finalise its investigations.
Hinda said the accused has been in custody for a year now without any further investigations being done with the investigating officer not being present again. She then requested that the matter be struck from the court roll.
The magistrate then withdrew the case stating that the court cannot allow the accused’s right to be violated on account of administrative issues and incomplete investigations, despite a final date already set.