2017-01-27Staff Report 2 Roland Routh Windhoek-Murder convict Raynoldt (Jacky) Windstaan who fired his State-funded lawyer, Titus Mbaeva, after he was found guilty on two counts of murder is still without a lawyer. Judge Naomi Shivute was informed this week the Directorate of Legal Aid has still not appointed a legal representative for Windstaan in the Windhoek High Court. Windstaan and his co-convict Johannes Eichab returned to court to ascertain Windstaan’s legal aid status after he unceremoniously dumped Mbaeva after his conviction. They will return to court on February 21 to hear whether Windstaan has been provided with a new lawyer. Windstaan and Eichab were convicted on two counts of murder for killing 42-year-old Klaas Titus and 39-year-old John McNab during the period of July 16 to 18, 2005 in the Mariental District. They duo threw their two victims into a deep and isolated well from which it is impossible to escape without any assistance from outside. The two men’s skeletal remains were discovered in the well after Windstaan pointed the well out to the police because he could no longer handle the nightmares in which his victims haunted him in his sleep. The two had stood impassively in the accused dock at C Court at the Windhoek High Court listening to the judge convict them of throwing two still alive men into a disused well and leaving them to die in a most brutal manner. But Judge Shivute was not convinced the victims were dead when they were thrown into the well. According to her, the cause of death was not determined by the findings of the postmortem, but the doctor who performed the post-mortem did not rule out stab injuries as the possible cause of death. She said there is evidence Titus was assaulted with an iron bar on his head and that after both victims were assaulted “they were thrown into the deep well whereby it was difficult for them to breathe whilst in the well”. The judge however acquitted them on a charge of defeating or attempting to defeat the course of justice when she found that no evidence was presented that the victims were dead when they were thrown into the well. According to the judge the deceased were unable to come out of the well without assistance as they were incapacitated by the assault. “Drawing inferences from the circumstances of the case I am of the opinion that the possibility that the cause of death was contributed by the injuries they suffered due to the assault and lack of oxygen cannot be excluded. I am of the view that in the circumstances this court is entitled to draw a conclusion in order to determine the cause of death. I am satisfied that death was brought about by the actions of the accused persons, ” said Judge Shivute at the time. “Since the deceased persons died whilst they were in the well it cannot be said that the accused persons, by throwing the deceased persons into the well, had an intention to defeat or were attempting to defeat or obstruct the course of justice because both accused 1 and 2 by throwing the deceased persons into the well, whilst they were still alive, had intended to kill them,” Judge Shivute had further stated. By first incapacitating the deceased through assault and then throwing them into a well 20 meters deep with no means of escape without assistance showed the accused intended to kill the deceased in the most brutal manner, she said then. 2017-01-27Staff Report 2
