2015-04-29Staff Report 2 Judge Alfred Siboleka on Monday upheld the objection of murder accused, 29-year-old Nelsiene Utiapatie Kauaria against the admissibility of a warning statement taken down by the police and a confession she made to Magistrate Alexis Diergaardt. Judge Siboleka upheld the objection when he delivered his ruling in a trial-within-a-trial in the ongoing Stoop murder case in the Windhoek High Court. He however ruled that a pointing out of the crime scene the third accused in the trial, Erwin Kasorere Tjiueza Katjingisua, 30, made to Chief Inspector Hermias van Zyl was admissible before court as evidence as well as the non-incriminatory statement Kauaria gave to Sergeant Billy Kamusivise when they first met at the Katutura Police Station. According to the judge the confessions taken down by the magistrates lacked crucial written attachments of what these magistrates actually explained to the accused regarding their rights to legal representation. He further noted the warning statements taken down by Detective Chief Inspector Ratjindua Tjivikua from all the suspects were not properly written down and/or completed and therefore not admissible as evidence before court. Judge Siboleka also rejected Erwin Katjingisua’s evidence that he was continuously assaulted by Kamusuvise and press-pointed with a pistol for two hours as an afterthought and rubbished both Erwin Katjingisua and Kauaria’s assertion they did not understand the Otjiherero interpreter, Memory Munzie. Katjingisua, his elder sibling, 31-year old George Tjikuao Katjingisua and Kauaria face charges of murder, robbery with aggravating circumstances, attempted robbery with aggravating circumstances and conspiracy to commit robbery with aggravating circumstances. The State alleges the trio between August 28 to 29, 2009 killed Gideon Johannes (Koos) Stoop, 78, at his flat at Erf 304, Shilunga Street in Cimbebasia, a residential suburb of Windhoek. Stoop, in life the father of renowned rugby players André and Leon who played for Namibia during the early independence years, was killed at the flat he rented in Cimbebasia. The trial-within-a-trial related to the admissibility of statements and the pointing out made by Kauaria and Erwin Katjingisua. The defence disputed the statements and pointing out was made voluntarily and that the accused were not informed of the rights to legal representation when the statements and pointing out were made. During the proceedings last year officer after officer was adamant they followed procedures when they arrested the accused. The trial was postponed to June 05 for the continuation of trial. Louis Karstens represents Kauaria, Willem Visser is for Erwin Katjingisua and Monty Karuaihe for Kasorere Katjingisua, while Deputy Prosecutor General Antonia Verhoef appears on behalf of the State. 2015-04-29Staff Report 2
