Windhoek
Jesaya Nicanor, the man accused of raping and killing the manager of a lodge outside Outjo in 2008, yesterday steadfastly stuck to his story that he was nowhere near the residence of the deceased when she was raped and killed.
Testifying in his own defence Nicanor told Judge Christi Liebenberg that at the time Fiona Ann Holton (deceased) was raped and killed he was at a place, called Ombika Gate, about 14 km from the camp.
Nicanor, 40, is charged with the murder and rape of Holton, as well as defeating or obstructing or attempting to defeat or obstruct the course of justice for washing and/or hiding a pair of beige Bermuda camouflage pants the police had asked for.
He denied guilt on all charges in the Windhoek High Court at the start of his trial.
Last week Friday, however, the court was informed DNA tests confirm that the blood found on the bermuda shorts of Nicanor was Holton’s and that samples taken of his private parts confirmed the presence of his DNA inside the private parts of Holton.
State witnesses also testified that Nicanor asked them about a rape and murder of a white woman the morning before the body was found. Holton’s lifeless body was only discovered later that afternoon, the court was told by previous witnesses.
Nicanor, who testified animatedly through a Damara/Nama interpreter, repeatedly said: “I did not visit the house of the deceased after I finished installing her air conditioner on September 19, 2008.”
According to him, he was instructed by the operations manager at the lodge, Alain Noirefarlise, on Thursday, September 18, 2008 to go and install an air conditioning unit at the residence of Holton.
He then went there with his assistant, Marshall Horaeb and they off-loaded their tools, he narrated. Horaeb already testified to this. Noirefarlise then allegedly told him to wait for Holton to indicate where she wanted the air conditioner installed, Nicanor continued.
“When the white woman arrived she told me where to install the unit and also asked me to hammer in some nails for her to hang up picture frames,” Nicanor further testified.
After he had installed the unit and hammered in the nails at the places indicated by Holton, Nicanor – who informed the court that he did not even know her name until he read it in the newspapers – said he then left the house and only returned the next day, September 19, to put up the outside unit and install the pipes of the unit. That was the last time he visited that house, he said repeatedly.
The State alleges Nicanor killed Holton during the night of September 20 to 21, 2008. It is alleged that Nicanor, who was a contractor installing air conditioners at the Etosha Safari Camp at the time, broke into the residence of the deceased by opening a window and climbing through.
He attacked the deceased with an unknown object on the head and also strangled her after he raped her, the indictment reads. The victim died as a result of head injuries sustained during the attack.
Nicanor told the court that on the Saturday in question he went to Ombika Gate and returned very late, so that his roommate Johannes Damaseb had to open the door to their room. Damaseb, however, testified that the door was not locked and when he saw Nicanor that night he had on his sleeping trousers already.
Nicanor further testified that he had gone to Ombika Gate at around 12h00 the following day (Sunday) and only returned to the camp between 22h30 and 23h00, when he first learned about the rape and murder.
State Advocate Felistas Shikerete prosecutes and Mese Tjituri appears on behalf of Nicanor. The case continues and Nicanor is out on bail.