Swakopmund murder case ready for trial

WINDHOEK, 28 AUG – A case in which a young man confessed to killing a 78-year-old pensioner at his house at the coastal town of Swakopmund in Erongo Region in August last year 2017, is now ready for trial.
Documents availed to Nampa on Tuesday show that the accused, Unaaro Mbemukenga, made another appearance before High Court Judge Christie Liebenberg on Friday last week, when his murder case was postponed to 26 September 2018.
The postponement was made to allow for a decision to be made by the State prosecutor, Cliff Lutibezi and the accused’s government-funded defence lawyer, Mbanga Siyomuinji regarding the commencement date for the trial.
The Judiciary has assigned High Court Judge Dinah Usiku to preside over the proceedings of the trial.
The 26-year-old Mbemukenga, who is on trial in the Windhoek High Court for the murder of the elderly Swakopmund resident, Manfred Karel Hartmann, confessed to committing the offence when he made his second appearance in the Swakopmund Magistrate’s Court on 15 November 2017.
A summary of substantial facts contained in the charge suggests that Mbemukenga, who was employed as a gardener for about two months by the deceased, allegedly robbed and killed the pensioner by beating him with a brick on the head and then tying his hands behind his back at the victim’s house on 17 August 2017.
Hartmann’s lifeless body was discovered on 18 August 2017 in the outside bathroom of his house, after Mbemukenga’s girlfriend got worried when the accused did not return home from work.
It is alleged that the worried girlfriend, alongside a group of police officers, then went to Hartmann’s house to search for Mbemukenga, only to discover Hartmann’s body.
After committing the murder, Mbemukenga allegedly fled the scene to Outjo, where he was shot and wounded by the police officers while reportedly resisting arrest, before spending a month in the Katutura State Hospital in Windhoek under heavy police guard.
During his second appearance in the Swakopmund Magistrate’s Court in November 2017, Mbemukenga allegedly told the court that he fully understands the reasons why he was arrested and that was because he killed someone.
The accused remains in police custody at the Windhoek Central Correctional Facility with no option to post bail.
NAMPA