WINDHOEK – The Windhoek Regional Court last week gave a final remand to have a mother accused of killing her one-month-old baby undergo mental observation.
Liina Lineekela Shaambeni was supposed to undergo psychiatric evaluation a few months ago but this has not happened yet.
Nearly six months ago Shaambeni’s defence attorney Johan van Vuuren asked the court to have Shaambeni’s mental capacity assessed as she allegedly seemed to be vague, not sure and could not comprehend what was going on.
Van Vuuren explained at the time that Shaambeni could not recall what happened on the date in question, thus the need for her to be observed.
During court proceeding’s Magistrate Alexis Diegaardt gave a final remand to November 16 for the mental observation, stating that should the time lapse, the doctor at the mental hospital will be summoned to court to explain the delay.
The mother of four is awaiting trial on a charge of murder, read with the provisions of the Domestic Violence Act, for her baby’s death. The prosecution is charging that on October 17, 2016 at Katutura Intermediate Hospital behind the nurses’ homes in the district of Windhoek, Shaambeni unlawfully and intentionally killed a one-month old baby by strangling him with a rope.
It is alleged that Shaambeni worked in Lüderitz as a bartender and arrived in Windhoek with the patients’ bus after she gave birth to a premature baby. The one-month-old baby allegedly disappeared which prompted the nurses to alert the police.
After an interrogation by the police Shaambeni took the police where she had left her baby. The investigating officer testified during Shaambeni’s unsuccessful bail application that they found the lifeless body of the one-month-old baby with a rope around his neck behind the nurses’ homes at the said hospital. It is alleged that the rope used as a murder weapon came from the baby’s T-shirt.
Shaambeni, who is in police custody, denied any wrongdoing when she took her preliminary plea earlier this year.