The Windhoek High Court has refused former commissioner of refugees Likius Valombola leave to appeal his murder conviction in the Supreme Court.
High Court Judge Claudia Claasen yesterday dismissed an application by Valombola (57), who was convicted of murder and sentenced to an effective prison term of 14 years, for leave to appeal the conviction in the upper court.
According to the judge, the grounds that his lawyer Sisa Namandje submitted to the court are without merit and do not have prospects of success.
“The mere possibility that another court may come to a different conclusion is not sufficient to justify the grant of leave to appeal,” the judge said before she dismissed the application.
Valombola was convicted of the murder of former Namibia National Students Organisation (Nanso) executive member, then 27-year-old Helao Kapembe Ndjaba.
Ndjaba died in the Katutura State hospital on 28 May 2018, after he was shot twice in the head between 18 and 19 May 2018 at the busy intersection of King Kauluma and Omuvapu streets in the Oshitenda location of Katutura.
At the time of the conviction, Claasen narrated that Valombola was reckless as regards the consequences when he fired two shots in the direction of persons on the street.
With regards to the arguments raised by Namandje, the judge said she documented her reasons fully in the judgement and see no reason why another court would come to a different conclusion.
According to her, there is credible evidence that Valombola fired in the direction of where the youngsters were standing and his version that he fired at a 45-degree angle in the air cannot be accepted because the deceased would not have been shot.
She said that she stands by her rejection of Valombola’s defence as not cogent and believable.
She further said that the grounds on the single witness aspect of Peter Mukwiilongo’s evidence lack particulars and are not proper grounds.
Namandje argued the court failed in its duty to decide all issues raised and contested by the applicant (Valombola) when it failed to make a definite finding on whether or not the projectiles allegedly found in the skull of the deceased were proved to have been fired from the applicant’s identified firearm.
In this regard, the judge said that Valombola admitted that he fired two shots, although at an upward angle.
This she said was considered together with other evidence and the court came to the only logical conclusion that it was indeed the shots fired by Valombola that struck the deceased and caused his death.