by Roland Routh
Windhoek
Hipura Ujaha has been appointed by the Department of Legal Aid to replace Mbanga Siyomunji, who withdrew as the lawyer of Johannes Lukuwa Hausiku, the man who is believed to have terrorised women in the sleepy town of Outjo during 2012.
Mbanga withdrew from the case because of conflicting instructions he said he received, just as he was about to start the defence’s case.
At the time Siyomunji wanted the court to send Hausiku for mental observation after he (Hausiku) started giving him conflicting instructions and denying instructions he had given to the lawyer.
Judge Nate Ndauendapo however refused the application, stating he will give his reasons for the refusal at the end of the trial.
Ujaha will now have until August 9 to prepare a defence to dislodge the State’s case that comprises of an admitted confession and pointings out by Hausiku, as well as several witness testimonies.
Judge Ndauendapo has set the matter down from August 9 to 12 for the defence’s case to be presented. At this stage it is uncertain whether Ujaha will put Hausiku on the stand. Hausiku faces one count of murder, two counts of kidnapping, two counts of attempted rape, one count of defeating or obstructing or attempting to defeat or obstruct the course of justice, one count of robbery and eight counts of rape. The indictment claims he followed a woman who was on her way home from a shebeen during the early hours of January 28, 2012, grabbed her on her throat, hit her on her head and tied her mouth with a piece of clothing.
He then twisted her arm and pulled her into some bushes, where he detained her and raped her on six occasions.
Hausiku also threatened to kill the woman and robbed her of her cellphone, whereafter he released her.
The next evening Hausiku allegedly accused another woman of stealing his money and asked her to accompany him to the residence of a witness to sort out the issue. On the way there he grabbed the complainant’s arm and dragged her into some bushes, where he tried to rape her. She was rescued by someone who heard her scream. It alleged Hausiku also threatened to kill the complainant.
The indictment claims Hausiku raped another woman on May 30, 2012 and killed her two-year-old son. It is stated the complainant took her son with her when she visited some shebeens in Outjo where she encountered Hausiku who bought her some liquor. When the complainant became very drunk, she and the deceased (the son) left the last shebeen she had visited on foot and while on her way Hausiku kidnapped her. Hausiku allegedly killed the deceased by stabbing him with a knife and/or hitting him with a blunt object on the head. The deceased died as a result of blunt impact head trauma caused by the assault.
It is further alleged that the accused then raped the complainant twice and attempted to rape her once.
It is also said that the last complainant was so drunk she could not remember what happened after she and the deceased had left the last shebeen.
She woke up the next morning next to the accused, who told her he rescued her from four men who killed the deceased and who wanted to kill her too. He then proceeded to rape her again, the indictment reads.
They then went to the Outjo Police Station where Hausiku informed the police as well about what supposedly happened, and also made a false statement with the intent to obstruct the course of justice, according to the indictment.