WINDHOEK – The Windhoek Regional Court has held over the warrant of arrest for the woman who stands accused of strangling her one-month-old baby to death.
According to the prosecution last week, Liina Lineekela Shaambeni could not be in court for the proceedings as she was still undergoing psychiatric evaluation at Windhoek psychiatric hospital.
The mother of three was arrested in October 2016 after her one-month-old baby was found dead behind the nurses’ homes at Katutura Intermediate Hospital and has since been in custody.
Shaambeni is expected to stand trial on a murder charge, read with the provisions of the Domestic Violence Act for what the prosecution deems the unlawful and intentional killing of the infant.
Given the accusations, Shaambeni’s defence attorney Johan van Vuuren asked the court to have his client observed as she allegedly seems to be vague, not sure and could not comprehend what was going on.
It is alleged that Shaambeni, who worked in Lüderitz as a bartender, arrived in Windhoek with the patients’ bus after she gave birth to a premature baby. The one-month-old baby allegedly disappeared, which prompted the nurses at the hospital to alert the police.
After an interrogation by the police, Shaambeni took the police where she had left her baby.
According to the investigating officer who testified during her failed bail application, police allegedly found the lifeless body of the one-month-old baby with a rope around his neck behind the nurse’s homes at the said hospital.
The investigating officer further stated that the rope used as a murder weapon came from the baby’s T-shirt.
In his testimony, the investigative officer revealed that Shaambeni confessed that she murdered the infant because the father had denied paternity.
Shaambeni denied any wrongdoing when she took a no guilty plea during her preliminary hearing.
She is expected to make an appearance in court on September 20 after Magistrate Ileni Velikoshi postponed the case for mental observation.
The court further gave an extension on Shaambeni’s warrant of arrest with an execution date of September 20. Shaambeni is being represented by Van Vuuren, with Fillemon Nyau prosecuting.