2017-10-06Staff Report 2 Roland Routh Windhoek-Semen and blood samples found on a bedspread taken from the room of murder-accused Piet Kondjele Nakanene contained sufficient DNA to link him to the rape and murder of Benedine Letesia Baumgartner, who was 29 at the time of her death, Judge Dinah Usiku was informed yesterday in the Windhoek High Court. Chief Forensic Scientist at the Namibia Forensic Scientific Institute, Maryn Swart, told the judge that the samples she tested from both a bedspread and blanket handed in as exhibitions at the lab contained sufficient DNA material to conclude that both Nakanene and the deceased were positive contributors to the samples. According to her, the possibility is more than a trillion to one and is undisputable. This means that the deceased was in the company of Nakanene prior to her death. According to Swart, she conducted analysis on various items brought to her for testing, including a used condom and condom wrapper, but the best results she got were from the bedspread where she took more than 11 different swatches and tested them against the DNA samples of both Nakanene and Baumgartner. However, regarding a previous rape act that Nakanene is charged with, the samples submitted to her for analysis did not yield sufficient DNA for her to make an informed comparison. This despite the complainant in that charge indicating to the court that Nakanene’s seed was still running down her legs when she went to the police station to lay a charge. On a question from Nakanene’s legal aid lawyer, Mpokiseng Dube, whether such a scenario is plausible, she said that it is highly unlikely that no semen can be retrieved after such a short period since the alleged rape, although there are factors that could contribute such as whether the victim urinated or cleaned herself. Nakanene is facing two charges of housebreaking with intent to rape, three counts of rape, two counts of attempted rape, two counts of attempted murder, one count of murder and one count of defeating or obstructing the course of justice. The State charges that he raped two women who stayed in his mother’s backyard ghettos after socialising with them and attempted to rape another woman who walked past their house. According to the State, he first attempted to rape his niece in 2006 and thereafter managed to rape two different women in April and October 2013. He also tried to murder his latest two victims by strangulation, the State charges. Nakanene was granted bail on both those matters and two weeks after his release on bail on the second rape charge, he allegedly killed Baumgartner after raping her twice in his room in Kuisebmond between 12 and 13 March 2014. He allegedly strangled her with his bare hands and she died in his room due to asphyxia. He is facing the charge of defeating the course of justice by allegedly removing the body of the deceased from his room and dumping it in the dunes, a distance away from his house and cleaning the yard of the house with a rake as well as destroying or in another unknown way disposing of a pair of shoes he was wearing during the period 12 to 13 March 2014. He denied guilt on all the charges at the start of his trial in February this year. The prosecution is represented by Advocate Innocencia Nyoni and the trial continues. 2017-10-06Staff Report 2
