2018-02-20Staff Report 2 Roland Routh Windhoek-The trial of Piet Kondjele Nakanene, a Walvis Bay resident who, according to the prosecutor, is a serial rapist who honed his modus operandi with his first rape attempt of his cousin in 2006, culminating in the horrific rape and murder of his last victim, resumed in the Windhoek High Court at the Windhoek Correctional Facility yesterday. According to the indictment Nakanene’s modus operandi was to socialise with the victims and escort them back to their place of sleep after which he would return, kick in the door and rape the victim. Two victims lived in different rented granny rooms in the same backyard where Nakanene resided. He faces various charges ranging from housebreaking and rape to murder dating back to 2006, when he first broke into the room of his cousin and tried to rape her. Nakanene faces two charges of housebreaking with intent to rape, three counts of rape, two counts of attempted rape, two counts of attempted murder, one count of murder and one count of defeating or obstructing the course of justice. He denied guilt on all charges at the start of his trial in February last year. On the first count of attempted rape, the state alleges that Nakanene kicked open the door of his cousin’s room and attempted to rape her on September 3, 2006 in Kuisebmond. According to the indictment, Nakanene and the victim were socialising and after they went to their separate rooms in the same yard, Nakanene returned and forcefully tried to rape the complainant who cannot be identified. It is further alleged he used the same modus operandi when he managed to rape another woman, who may not be identified, on April 6, 2013. He also faces two charges of attempted murder for allegedly strangling his victims, leaving them unconsciousness during the rape. The second count of attempted rape relates to an incident on October 15, 2013 when Nakanene allegedly followed his victim, who was on her way home, on foot using the route she normally took, which passed nearby the premises where the accused resided in Kuisebmond. According to the indictment, Nakanene pushed the victim to the ground when he caught up with her and then attempted to rape her. After this Nakanene allegedly upped his ante. The state alleges that he killed Benedine Letesia Baumgartner after he raped her in his room in Kuisebmond between March 12 and 13, 2014. He allegedly strangled her with his bare hands and she died in his room due to asphyxia. He faces the charge of defeating the course of justice for allegedly removing the body of the deceased from his room and dumping it in the dunes a distance away from his house, and cleaning the yard of the house with a rake as well as destroying, or in another unknown way, disposing of a pair of shoes he was wearing during the period March 12 to 13, 2014. Yesterday a state witness, Elifas Shikulo, testified that on a day during March 2014 – he could not remember the exact date - he missed his wheelie bin and he and a neighbour followed the tracks of the bin to a house with a “ghetto” in the yard. He identified the wheelie bin – one of the exhibitions in court – believed to have been used to ferry Baumgartner’s body, as his missing bin. The case continues today and Nakanene is represented by legal aid lawyer Mpokiseng Dube, the state by Advocate Innocencia Nyoni, and Judge Dinah Usiku is presiding. 2018-02-20Staff Report 2
