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Witness says he suffers memory lapses after beating

2014-08-22  Staff Report 2

Witness says he suffers memory lapses after beating
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WINDHOEK - A very emotional and tearful young man from Rosh Pinah told the Windhoek High Court that he couldn’t remember anything that happened after his assailant beat him.

Rachid Klukowski, 23, made the claim as a witness when he appeared in the Windhoek High Court on Wednesday and yesterday.

Klukowski was testifying in the trial of Petrus Frederick who is accused of attempting to kill him.

Frederick already pleaded guilty to a charge of murder for the fatal stabbing of his girlfriend Bonaventura Skeyer who died from at least 27 stab wounds he inflicted on her at Rosh Pinah on 26 February, 2012.

He pleaded guilty to a charge of assault with intent to do grievous bodily harm, but this plea was rejected by the State represented by Advocate Simba Nduna.

Three doctors already testified about the assault on Klukowski.

The doctor who did the initial examination of Klukowski, Dr Katuku Mukendi, told Judge Alfred Siboleka that Klukowski was “out of it” when he was brought to the Lüderitz Hospital.

He also said he could smell alcohol on his breath, but could not definitely confirm he was drunk.

The demeanour of Klukowski could also have been because of a severe beating, he testified.

He said that during his examination, he found that Klukowski had a broken mandible and he observed some dried blood in his right ear and that he had fractures on his collarbone and right humerus.

He suspected trauma to the brain and sent Klukowski to Windhoek for a CT scan, the doctor said.

The doctor who examined Klukowski in Windhoek testified he had to drill into Klukowski’s skull to drain blood that formed due to a ruptured blood vessel.

Klukowski himself testified he was at the house of a friend’s sister at Scorpion Village in Rosh Pinah.

They had just returned from the swimming pool and he had only one small beer to drink.

While in the room of Pearl Nail, she received a SMS from Frederick’s daughter whom he referred to as Rachel, Klukowski said, and continued that Rachel wanted to come and visit.

Pearl then asked him and her brother, Winslow, to go and fetch Rachel, which they did. He continued that after about 10 to 20 minutes Frederick arrived looking for his daughter who at that stage left their company. He told the court Frederick asked him where his daughter was and after he answered “I don’t know” the next thing he remembered was waking up in hospital, not knowing what had happened.

At that stage Klukowski became very emotional and started crying saying, “I just wanted to know about my baby.”

He testified that every time he was asked to describe the beating he received or his stay in hospital he became emotional.

On a question from prosecutor Nduna whether he knew why he was in hospital, he again broke down and sobbed that he was only told four months after his release from hospital why he was there in the first place.

At the start of his testimony he told the court that it seemed to him that he was seeing the accused for the first time when he was asked if he knew him.

“I know that I must have met him before, but for me it’s like I’m seeing him today for the very first time,” he told the judge. He further told the court he suffers from severe headaches since the incident and experiences memory lapses.

Judge Siboleka remanded the matter to today after the State closed its case and Frederick who is represented by Mese Tjituri on the ticket of Legal Aid is expected to testify in his own defence.

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2014-08-22  Staff Report 2

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