Maria Amakali
Windhoek-Failure to acquire legal representation has caused a case in which Namibia Defence Force (NDF) soldier Gabriel Tulinane David stands accused of deliberately drowning his own daughter to drag on.
Thirty-year-old David, who appeared in the Windhoek Magistrate’s Court in Katutura before magistrate Johannes Shuuveni, without any legal representation although bluntly having been advised to do so previously, informed the court he had not yet received a response from the Directorate of Legal Aid regarding his application for legal aid.
David was advised by the court to get legal representation because of the seriousness of the offence and if he is convicted he is likely to face a stiff sentence.
David who was appearing from custody is being charged by the prosecution with a count of murder in the death of his five-year-old daughter Cornelia Indileni David on February 19, whose body was discovered in Goreangab dam on February 21.
It is alleged David drowned his daughter after he collected her from her relatives’ home in Babylon’s informal settlement in Katutura, Windhoek.
It is further alleged he drowned his daughter who was in his care and during that same day he texted the mother of his child, informing her that he had killed their child. The five-year-old girl’s lifeless body was retrieved from the dam two days later but there was no trace of David.
David, who was employed by the Namibia Defence Force and based at Suiderhof Military Base in Windhoek, has denied intentionally killing his daughter by throwing her into the dam.
The five-year-old girl allegedly accidentally slipped into the dam while they were walking close to the dam, and died as a result of drowning although he attempted to rescue her, according to David’s version of the incident.
Magistrate Shuuveni postponed David’s case to September 24, with hopes that by that time he would have acquired legal representation.