Windhoek High Court Judge Naomi Shivute on Tuesday said she will deliver her ruling on a trial within a trial in which a 27-year-old Drimiopsis resident, accused of kidnapping, rape and murder, is denying admissions he made to police officers. 

The accused is also denying a confession he made to a magistrate.

Abel Mokalabatho, through his Legal Aid-instructed lawyer Mbanga Siyomunji, objected to the admissions, saying they were not his, and were obtained through threats and undue pressure. 

The prosecution is charging
Mokalabatho with three counts of rape, one count of kidnapping, one count of murder and one count of obstructing the course of justice. 

The State is alleging that on 1 and 2 August 2020, Mokalabatho and the victim, Anna Geinamseb (27), were drinking at a shebeen at Drimiopsis in the Gobabis district. 

It is further alleged that when the victim went to the toilet, Mokalabatho followed her and raped her. He then forcefully took her to his house, where he allegedly raped her twice. He also allegedly stabbed her on the neck and strangled her with a piece of wire after she threatened to report him, and stuffed her body in a manhole.

The State alleges that the victim was intoxicated, and this rendered her incapable of communicating her unwillingness. On the count of murder, Mokalabatho allegedly stabbed the victim with a knife on the neck, and strangled her with a piece of wire. To cover up his alleged deed, he buried the victim in a manhole, cleaned his bedroom to remove the victim’s blood, and buried the knife underneath some plants. 

Siyomunji argued yesterday that the rights of his client were not properly explained to him before he agreed to the damning confessions. Further, he said, undue pressure was put on the accused, and his head was submerged in a bucket of water. This all constituted a breach of his rights as being presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law, the lawyer argued. 

If the breach is of such a nature that it impacts the trial, then it cannot stand. In fact, he said, it is very clear that had it not been for the constitutional breach, there would have been no pointing out, no confession and no guilty plea in court. 

Mokalabatho pleaded guilty in the Magistrate’s Court in Gobabis during a section 119 plea-taking. 

He however changed his plea to not guilty in the High Court. Siyomunji further argued that the State failed to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the accused was correctly informed of his rights, and that he did not voluntarily, without undue influence and while not being in sound and sober senses, give a confession, two pointing outs, the warning statement and the 119 pleas in court. 

As a result, he urged the court to find all the evidence as inadmissible. State Advocate
Ethel Ndlovu argued that the State had proved that his rights were properly explained to him and that he understood them. She said his claims of torture and undue influence were made up, and just an afterthought. She asked the court to dismiss the claims and admit the evidence. 

Mokalabatho is detained at Windhoek Correctional Facility trial-awaiting section. 

– rrouth@nepc.com.na