WINDHOEK - Windhoek High Court Judge Nate Ndauendapo yesterday again postponed the case of Johannes Lukuwa Hausiku who is charged with multiple counts of rape and one count of murder for the umpteenth time as he is still not examined by a psychiatrist.
This is three years after the state asked for a second round of mental observations after a psychiatrist found Hausiku unfit to stand trial.
Doctor Hileni Ndjaba diagnosed Hausiku with Schizophrenia comorbid with substance use disorders in November last year and declared him unfit to stand trial.
At that time, Dr Ndjaba said: The accused is not fit to stand trial, he is incapable of understanding the court proceedings so as to make proper defence. At the time of the commission of the crime, in terms of Section 78 of the Criminal Procedure Act, he was mentally ill, which makes him incapable of appreciating the wrongfulness of his act.
The state disputes that finding and is asking the court to send Hausiku for another round of tests which is to involve two psychiatrists including one not in the fulltime employment of the state.
According to State Advocate Ethel Ndlovu, Hausiku was able to mount a defence when he testified during a trial within a trial dealing with certain admissions and he can still mount a proper defence with the guidance of his state funded legal counsel.
Hipura Ujaha took over the case after the former legal counsel withdrew for being “unable to consult and draw up a proper defence”.
At the time, Mbanga Siyomunji who acted on behalf of Hausiku, lodged an application to have Hausiku observed mentally, but his application was dismissed causing him to withdraw as he could not “with a clear conscious continue to defend Hausiku who is chopping and changing his instructions at will”.
When Ujaha was appointed, he immediately applied to the court for Hausiku to be sent for mental observation as he was unable to consult and was receiving constricting instructions.
This time Judge Ndauendapo consented and Hausiku underwent psychiatric observation at the Windhoek Psychiatric Unit from October 17, 2016 to November 14, 2016 with the result that he was declared unfit to stand trial.
The state however did not accept the diagnosis and challenged the psychiatrist’s findings. During a subsequent trial within a trial to determine the issue, it came to light that the occupational therapist was of the opinion that Hausiku is fit to stand trial and the state ran with that.
During his mental observation, Hausiku told the psychiatrists that he was angry because his girlfriend/wife (the mother of the murdered child) was having affairs with another man. According to what he said, they both came from Kavango to Outjo as a couple, having two children, one being the deceased and he was aiming to stab Martha and ended up stabbing the boy because she held him as a shield and he took him to the hospital thereafter and has no recollection of a body been cut and thrown away. He denied the rape cases and the rest of the allegations.
Hausiku is standing trial on 15 charges emanating from three incidents which took place at Outjo during the first half of 2012. He has denied guilt on all of the charges.
He is alleged to have kidnapped and raped a woman at Outjo in the Kunene Region on the night of 30 May 2012.
He then allegedly murdered the woman’s two-year-old son and hindered police investigations by telling her to report to the police that she had been attacked and her son was killed by four unknown men.
Hausiku is also alleged to have kidnapped, raped and robbed two other women in January 2012.
He remains in police custody at the Windhoek Central Correctional Facility, where he has been held since his arrest.