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Home / Accused denies killing security company owner
Accused denies killing security company owner
2015-03-26Staff Report 2 WINDHOEK - The second accused in the H.A.M.S Security murder trial, Toivo Kashipolo, 36, flat-out denied any involvement in the daring daylight robbery in 2009. Kashipolo made the vehement denial when he testified before the Windhoek High Court yesterday. Kashipolo and his co-accused Willem Valombola, 45, and Fillipus Shishiveni Nomongula, 40, face one count of murder, one count of robbery with aggravating circumstances and two counts of attempted murder. They are also charged with one count of possessing a firearm without a licence and one count of possessing ammunition without a licence. The State alleges the three unlawfully and intentionally killed the owner of the company Andries Petrus de Jager and that they unlawfully and with the intent to force them into submission assaulted De Jager and/or Martha Diergaardt by firing shots at them with a firearm(s) and with intent to steal or forcefully take from them a briefcase containing N$172 488.10. It is further alleged they unlawfully assaulted Martha Diergaardt by firing shots at her with firearms with the intent to murder her, and another charge is that they assaulted one Roostee by firing shots at her with the intent to murder her. According to the indictment, De Jager and Diergaardt withdrew N$172 488.10 from Bank Windhoek on November 2, 2009 that was meant for the salaries of the company’s staff. It is alleged they drove to the premises of H.A.M.S. in Windhoek where the three accused were waiting to rob them. It is further alleged that two of the accused got out of a motor vehicle and armed with firearms started firing shots at the deceased and Diergaardt, and grabbed the briefcase containing the money. Further, it is alleged two of the men managed to flee from the scene in the motor vehicle they came in, while Kashipolo fled the scene on foot and was chased by Roostee which caused him to abandon the firearm and the briefcase. The State alleges all the accused acted with a common purpose at all relevant times. They already pleaded not guilty to all charges they face at their first appearance. On Tuesday Kashipolo testified in his own defence and told Judge Naomi Shivute he was in the company of a friend he only identified as “Anna”, on that fateful day. According to him he accompanied Anna to NamWater where she handed in an application form for work. As his car was at NaTIS for an inspection, they decided to walk there and on their way they heard a commotion and saw two men being chased. He said he also saw a red car giving chase after the men. According to Kashipolo he saw the man who was chasing after the fleeing men fire shots in their direction and he got hit in the upper leg. He stumbled in a westerly direction until he collapsed near the NBC building, Kashipolo narrated. It was there that two police officers in camouflage uniform found him and one of them stepped on his neck with his boots. According to Kashipolo he was taken to Katutura Police Station from where he was transferred to Katutura Hospital and then to the Windhoek Central Hospital. On a question from his lawyer, Monty Karuaihe, he said he knew nothing of the revolver found in the vicinity of his arrest and reiterated he was just an innocent bystander that got mixed up in the incident, by accident. Kashipolo was however already positively identified as the man who fired the shot that killed De Jager by a witness for the State, Lincoln Scholtz. 2015-03-26Staff Report 2
