Another key member of Bob Green’s gang dies

AN empty place in the dock in the Windhoek Regional Court silently spoke volumes about history repeating itself yesterday.

The empty space was where robbery suspect Petrus Mutukuta – a former Policeman who became a frequent co-accused of repeat robbery suspect Thomas Nandjebo – was supposed to have stood. But Mutukuta was absent yesterday for what had been supposed to be the start of yet another trial in which he and Nandjebo, alias Bob Green, were to face charges of armed robbery together.The reasons for his absence were the same as those that led to Nandjebo also being absent from the dock when their case was called in the same court on November 5 last year.Like Nandjebo, Mutukuta has in the meantime met the same fate: death.And like his erstwhile comrade in the dock – and suspected partner in crime – Mutukuta is also alleged to have died after carrying out another armed robbery while free on bail pending his trial in the case that returned to Magistrate Dinnah Usiku’s court yesterday.Mutukuta (34) died on July 11 at Onyaanya, in the Oshikoto Region, some 40 km south-east of Ondangwa.He turned his gun on himself after he had been seriously wounded by a security guard who fired shots at a gang that had staged an armed robbery at a shop at Onyaanya, a Police spokesperson in the region, Warrant Officer Samuel Hamukonda, confirmed yesterday.Mutukuta’s death came a little over eight months after Nandjebo had met a similar end.He had died on November 5 last year, after being shot by the Police following an armed robbery at the Ongwediva Post Office, during which a Police Constable was also shot dead.Nandjebo had been free on bail for a little less than two and a half months by the time he was shot.By the time Mutukuta came to the same sticky end last month, he had been free on bail for just under two months.Both had been granted bail while facing a string of charges involving allegations of serious violence in the case that made another turn in court yesterday.Nandjebo had already been granted bail by the time the Prosecutor-General decided in late July last year that he and three co-accused – with Mutukuta’s death their number is now down to two – should go on trial on two charges of robbery with aggravating circumstances, seven attempted murder charges, three counts of illegally possessing firearms, and three charges of malicious damage to property.Yesterday the witnesses who are due to testify in that case were present in court, but had to return home without having had a chance to have their say.That was after Public Prosecutor Jacoline Bazuin told the Magistrate that the Police docket on the matter had not yet been disclosed to one of the defence lawyers in the case, Duard Kesslau, necessitating a further postponement before another date for the trial would be set.The only two suspects that remain in the dock are Paulus Ashipala, who is being represented by Kesslau, and Paulus Silvanus Haipinge, represented by Sisa Namandje.They, too, are free on bail.Their case is set to return to court on October 7.The charges that they face are based on an alleged armed robbery that took place on the Wilhelmstal-Omaruru gravel road on September 25 2002, when two men travelling along that road found themselves under gunfire from a gang of armed robbers that forced their vehicle to a standstill and robbed items valued at some N$30 000 from them.The robbers made a getaway, but later found themselves involved in a shooting with some farm workers in the Okahandja area – the subject of five attempted murder charges that the duo remaining in the dock now faces alone – before they were also involved in an exchange of gunfire with the Police.But Mutukuta was absent yesterday for what had been supposed to be the start of yet another trial in which he and Nandjebo, alias Bob Green, were to face charges of armed robbery together.The reasons for his absence were the same as those that led to Nandjebo also being absent from the dock when their case was called in the same court on November 5 last year.Like Nandjebo, Mutukuta has in the meantime met the same fate: death.And like his erstwhile comrade in the dock – and suspected partner in crime – Mutukuta is also alleged to have died after carrying out another armed robbery while free on bail pending his trial in the case that returned to Magistrate Dinnah Usiku’s court yesterday.Mutukuta (34) died on July 11 at Onyaanya, in the Oshikoto Region, some 40 km south-east of Ondangwa.He turned his gun on himself after he had been seriously wounded by a security guard who fired shots at a gang that had staged an armed robbery at a shop at Onyaanya, a Police spokesperson in the region, Warrant Officer Samuel Hamukonda, confirmed yesterday.Mutukuta’s death came a little over eight months after Nandjebo had met a similar end.He had died on November 5 last year, after being shot by the Police following an armed robbery at the Ongwediva Post Office, during which a Police Constable was also shot dead.Nandjebo had been free on bail for a little less than two and a half months by the time he was shot.By the time Mutukuta came to the same sticky end last month, he had been free on bail for just under two months.Both had been granted bail while facing a string of charges involving allegations of serious violence in the case that made another turn in court yesterday.Nandjebo had already been granted bail by the time the Prosecutor-General decided in late July last year that he and three co-accused – with Mutukuta’s death their number is now down to two – should go on trial on two charges of robbery with aggravating circumstances, seven attempted murder charges, three counts of illegally possessing firearms, and three charges of malicious damage to property.Yesterday the witnesses who are due to testify in that case were present in court, but had to return home without having had a chance to have their say.That was after Public Prosecutor Jacoline Bazuin told the Magistrate that the Police docket on the matter had not yet been disclosed to one of the defence lawyers in the case, Duard Kesslau, necessitating a further postponement before another date for the trial would be set.The only two suspects that remain in the dock are Paulus Ashipala, who is being represented by Kesslau, and Paulus Silvanus Haipinge, represented by Sisa Namandje.They, too, are free on bail.Their case is set to return to court on October 7.The charges that they face are based on an alleged armed robbery that took place on the Wilhelmstal-Omaruru gravel road on September 25 2002, when two men travelling along that road found themselves under gunfire from a gang of armed robbers that forced their vehicle to a standstill and robbed items valued at some N$30 000 from them.The robbers made a getaway, but later found themselves involved in a shooting with some farm workers in the Okahandja area – the subject of five attempted murder charges that the duo remaining in the dock now faces alone – before they were also involved in an exchange of gunfire with the Police.