A man convicted of the murder of H.A.M.S Security Services owner, Andries Petrus de Jager in 2009, wants to appeal his conviction and sentence in the High Court eight years after the fact.

Willem Kawulefelwa Valombola (53) was sentenced to 60 years and nine months imprisonment for the murder of De Jager
and the attempted murders of Martha Diergaardt and Hannelie Roostee. He was also convicted on a charge of robbery with aggravating circumstances.

Although Valombola lodged bail appeals previously, it was always abandoned for one or other reason. 

His lawyer Christian Nambahu filed the leave to appeal application, but only on the conviction, and when the appeal was
supposed to be heard informed the court that his client changed his mind and wanted to appeal the sentence as well. 

Thus, they will file a new notice of appeal against the conviction and sentence.

Judge Naomi Shivute removed the matter from the court roll. 

Valombola and two accomplices were sentenced in September 2015 after being convicted in July 2015. Toivo Kashipolo (41) was sentenced to 55 years and nine months and his appeal is currently pending in the Supreme Court and Fillipus Shishiveni Nomongula (46) was sentenced to 57 years and nine months.

Although the convicts asked the court to have mercy on them, they did not appear to show any remorse, as the three maintained to the very end that they were convicted
of crimes they did not commit, said Judge Shivute at the time.

She further said the court could not overlook the fact that a life was lost. 

Valombola, Kashipolo, and Nomongula were convicted of the murder of De Jager with the intent to steal from him a briefcase containing cash in the amount of N$172 488, the property of late De Jager and/or Martha Diergaardt, and/or H.A.M.S Security
Services.  “The deceased was shot twice with a firearm and he died as a result of a gunshot wound to the thorax. He was
killed in execution-style, just because of the greed of the accused persons, who wanted to rob him of his hard-earned cash,” the judge remarked. 

She said his family was robbed of a husband, a father, and a grandfather and that his departure created a vacuum. The offences were premeditated and calculated, she said, and this called for a deterrent sentence, as the crimes committed are very serious and prevalent. 

Valombola was sentenced
to 30 years for murder, 15 years for robbery, and 10 years each for two attempted murder convictions. Five years of the robbery sentence were ordered to run concurrently with the sentence on the murder conviction.  He was further sentenced to 18 months for possession of a firearm without a licence, of which nine months were ordered to run concurrently with the sentence on attempted murder. 

The matter will be enrolled again when Nambahu files his amended application for leave to appeal. 

-rrouth@nepc.com.na