Key suspect in Usakos farmer’s murder on the run

WINDHOEK, 23 AUG  – Dion Haraseb, the main suspect in the alleged murder of 71-year-old Usakos farmer Willem de Klerk in October 2015, is on the run.
The 34-year-old Haraseb was on Thursday scheduled to make another appearance before High Court Judge Christie Liebenberg during a pre-trial conference of case management review in respect of his alleged murder case, but was absent.
Haraseb’s government-sponsored defence lawyer Ileni Gebhardt also told the court she made several telephone calls to her client’s family members and relatives on Thursday morning, but no one knows where he is.
A warrant for his immediate arrest was issued and his bail of N$1 000 was provisionally cancelled.
The murder case was also postponed to 20 September this year to allow the police to trace him and effect the re-arrest.
Haraseb’s co-accused persons, the 23-year-old Karel Claasen and his girlfriend Zelda Harases (age not provided) were however both present before court with their State-funded defence lawyers, Mese Tjituri and Mbanga Siyomuinji.
The three accused face counts of housebreaking with intent to steal; theft from a motor vehicle and being illegal in possession of suspected stolen property.
Haraseb alone faces additional separate charges of murder and malicious damage to property in respect of the circumstances that led to the elderly farmer’s death.
According a summary of substantial facts contained in the charge sheet, the accused were all employees on De Klerk’s farm Villa Rosa, some 47 kilometres from Usakos in the Erongo Region.
The late De Klerk, who lived alone after his wife died earlier in 2015, was allegedly shot twice with his own firearm which they had stolen from his vehicle.
After the alleged murder, the accused hid his body in an old water tank and then broke into his house, stole some of his belongings and loaded it into the truck.
The loot included two rifles, gas bottles, clothes, lamb and karakul skins, food, a digital camera and cash.
They drove off with the truck, but it broke down between Usakos and Karibib.
The three accused abandoned the truck and hitchhiked to Windhoek and Swakopmund, where they were arrested.
All stolen items, except for some of the money, were recovered. Accused Claasen is free on bail, while Haraseb is free on a warning. – NAMPA