John Muyamba
Rundu
A 17-year-old boy from Kehemu appeared in the Rundu Magistrate’s Court yesterday on a charge of murder. He is charged with stabbing his 21-year-old friend Negoli Vaino Ndeshipanda to death in Rundu’s Kehemu location last Thursday evening.
The 17-year-old accused, whose identity is known to New Era but cannot be published as he is a minor, appeared before magistrate Helen Oliaya while Steven Haradoeb prosecuted.
The accused was arrested on Friday morning after he surrendered himself to the police.
The case was postponed to June 26 for further police investigations and for the minor to apply for legal aid. Normally the court does not grant bail to minors, and thus release them into the care of a guardian but in this case the boy will remain in police custody as he was not granted bail nor released in a guardian’s care.
The prosecutor objected to bail for the following reasons: that the accused’s life is under threat by the deceased’s family and because investigations are at an initial stage, while the State fears interference and that it will not be in the interest of justice for him to be released on bail or under the care of a guardian.
Just recently in March a 14-year-old teenage boy from Sauyemwa in Rundu who was charged with stabbing his 17-year-old brother to death appeared in the same court. The boy also used a knife to stab his brother during a quarrel about who should use their mother’s mobile phone.