Maria Amakali
Windhoek-The Katutura magistrate’s court yesterday granted one of the six suspects in the robbery of N$700,000 from a Puma Service Station in Katutura bail.
Magistrate Antonious Shapumba granted Jafet Ekandjo (40) bail of N$8,000.
Ekandjo is amongst the six suspects that allegedly held employees of the Puma service station at gunpoint and robbed the business of N$700,000 in cash in February.
Ekandjo and his five co-accused Johannes Kambonde (28), Nehale Gabriel (31), Simeon Nangolo (28), Laurentius Iipinge (30) and Nghilivali Johannes (28) face charges of robbery and assault of Genevieve Mireille on February 13 in Katutura, Windhoek.
The prosecution presented evidence that Ekandjo and his six co-accused held Mireille and other employees at gunpoint near a local commercial bank in Katutura.
The robbery occurred outside the Pick n Pay complex in Katutura, while the service station employees were on their way to deposit the money at a bank.
The suspects allegedly managed to escape using a black sedan without number plates.
It still unknown how the robbers acquired the information that the service station workers were carrying such a substantial amount of cash on that specific day and at that specific time, as well as why they did not have a security guard escort.
Even though they were transporting such a huge sum of money, no security guard accompanied the employees.
So far police have recovered only N$80,000 of the stolen cash as well as the getaway car.
The court denied the six bail during their first court appearance, but Ekandjo lodged a formal bail application, which succeeded after his defence attorney managed to convince the court that he did not represent a flight risk
Ekandjo’s five co-accused will remain in police custody until their next court appearance. Magistrate Shapumba issued a warning to Ekandjo to report at the Windhoek police station every Monday and Friday.