Arson-murder suspect to hear verdict today

A DAY that a successful escape from Police custody helped put off for more than six years is set to dawn for murder and arson suspect Efraim Rachimo Haradoëb in the High Court in Windhoek today.

Haradoëb is scheduled to hear Judge Mavis Gibson’s verdict this afternoon in the long-interrupted trial in which he is charged with murder and arson. The case was postponed to today for the judgement to be delivered after defence lawyer Sarel Maritz and State advocate Rolanda Gertze had addressed Judge Gibson with their arguments on the pending verdict on Tuesday.Haradoëb (35) is accused of having murdered his teacher girlfriend, Regina Kastoor (23), by pouring petrol over her and setting her on fire in her room at the hostel of the C.!!Oaseb Secondary School at Gibeon on November 16 1998.Haradoëb was working as a teacher at Tses at the time.Kastoor suffered severe burns in the incident, and died in a hospital in Windhoek ten days later.Haradoëb’s trial started before Judge Gibson in the High Court in June 1999.Haradoëb denied the charges, and had already testified in his own defence – he denied having been present at the hostel at the time that Kastoor was attacked – when the trial was postponed to give him a series of opportunities to trace a witness that he claimed would be able to corroborate the alibi that he said would prove his innocence.By February 2 2000, when the case returned to court after its latest postponement, Judge Gibson had to be informed that Haradoëb had escaped form Police custody the previous day.Haradoëb’s then defence counsel, Richard Metcalfe, also told the Judge that he had been left empty-handed after his efforts to trace the supposed alibi witness, and it appeared that the witness did not exist.Haradoëb remained on the run from the law in Namibia until he was arrested in South Africa in April last year on charges that he had stolen valuables from a series of girlfriends in Johannesburg and Pretoria.The South African authorities discovered after his arrest that he was still wanted in Namibia on a charge of murder.In his arguments, Maritz told the Judge that the case was turning on two central issues: the matter of the alibi, and the identification of the person who was seen pouring petrol over Kastoor and setting her alight.He argued that the court had grounds to find in Haradoëb’s favour on both those issues.If the court finds that there could be doubt over the identification of the culprit, or over the evidence that the State presented to court to disprove the claimed alibi, Haradoëb has to be acquitted, he argued.Gertze however argued that the State’s witnesses had refuted Haradoëb’s alibi, and that there was no possibility that the alibi could be true.Except for the eyewitness who testified that she saw him attacking Kastoor in the hostel room, another witness who knew Haradoëb before the incident also told the court that he had seen Haradoëb near the hostel on the evening of November 16 1998 – when Haradoëb claimed to have been in a truck on his way to South Africa, Gertze told the court.Haradoëb’s explanation for the incriminating testimony that the eyewitness delivered against him was that she had a personal vendetta against him.Yet throughout the trial he could point to no reason to explain why this witness would have had hard feelings against him, Gertze argued.She said the prosecution had shown that Haradoëb had intended to kill Kastoor.As a result, he has to be convicted of murder with a direct intention to kill, Gertze said.The case was postponed to today for the judgement to be delivered after defence lawyer Sarel Maritz and State advocate Rolanda Gertze had addressed Judge Gibson with their arguments on the pending verdict on Tuesday.Haradoëb (35) is accused of having murdered his teacher girlfriend, Regina Kastoor (23), by pouring petrol over her and setting her on fire in her room at the hostel of the C.!!Oaseb Secondary School at Gibeon on November 16 1998.Haradoëb was working as a teacher at Tses at the time.Kastoor suffered severe burns in the incident, and died in a hospital in Windhoek ten days later.Haradoëb’s trial started before Judge Gibson in the High Court in June 1999.Haradoëb denied the charges, and had already testified in his own defence – he denied having been present at the hostel at the time that Kastoor was attacked – when the trial was postponed to give him a series of opportunities to trace a witness that he claimed would be able to corroborate the alibi that he said would prove his innocence.By February 2 2000, when the case returned to court after its latest postponement, Judge Gibson had to be informed that Haradoëb had escaped form Police custody the previous day.Haradoëb’s then defence counsel, Richard Metcalfe, also told the Judge that he had been left empty-handed after his efforts to trace the supposed alibi witness, and it appeared that the witness did not exist.Haradoëb remained on the run from the law in Namibia until he was arrested in South Africa in April last year on charges that he had stolen valuables from a series of girlfriends in Johannesburg and Pretoria.The South African authorities discovered after his arrest that he was still wanted in Namibia on a charge of murder.In his arguments, Maritz told the Judge that the case was turning on two central issues: the matter of the alibi, and the identification of the person who was seen pouring petrol over Kastoor and setting her alight.He argued that the court had grounds to find in Haradoëb’s favour on both those issues.If the court finds that there could be doubt over the identification of the culprit, or over the evidence that the State presented to court to disprove the claimed alibi, Haradoëb has to be acquitted, he argued.Gertze however argued that the State’s witnesses had refuted Haradoëb’s alibi, and that there was no possibility that the alibi could be true.Except for the eyewitness who testified that she saw him attacking Kastoor in the hostel room, another witness who knew Haradoëb before the incident also told the court that he had seen Haradoëb near the hostel on the evening of November 16 1998 – when Haradoëb claimed to have been in a truck on his way to South Africa, Gertze told the court.Haradoëb’s explanation for the incriminating testimony that the eyewitness delivered against him was that she had a personal vendetta against him.Yet throughout the trial he could point to no reason to explain why this witness would have had hard feelings against him, Gertze argued.She said the prosecution had shown that Haradoëb had intended to kill Kastoor.As a result, he has to be convicted of murder with a direct intention to kill, Gertze said.