Beach murder suspects to hear ruling on acquittal bid

THE prosecution in the trial of the three men accused of murdering Swakopmund goldsmith Alexandra Mooren during an armed robbery two years ago will face a fiasco if any of the three suspects is allowed to walk free today.

State advocate Sandra Miller made this statement to Acting Judge Collins Parker in the High Court in Windhoek on Wednesday while trying to persuade the Acting Judge not to rule in favour of applications for the acquittal of two of the accused men on trial, Matti Kamati (37) and Temus Shiwalo (33), after the State closed its case on Tuesday. Kamati, Shiwalo and 28-year-old Naftalie Kondja are jointly facing charges of murder and robbery with aggravating circumstances in connection with the fatal shooting of Mooren on a Swakopmund beach on August 13 2004.They are further charged with theft in connection with a break-in during which the .22 revolver with which Mooren was later shot was stolen from a locked car at Swakopmund on the day before her death.Kamati, who has chosen to stand trial without legal representation, told Acting Judge Parker on Wednesday that he wanted to be discharged at this stage of the trial simply because he is an innocent man.”I’m innocent in this matter, because I did not commit any offence,” he told the court.Shiwalo’s defence counsel, Christie Mostert, told the court that there was no case against this client at this stage.Incriminating allegations that Kondja, who has admitted that he robbed Mooren of her handbag and that he shot her dead in the process, is claimed to have made against Shiwalo in a confession that is part of the evidence before court is not evidence against Shiwalo, because there is no evidence before the court that the person referred to in the statement by Kondja is indeed the Temus Shiwalo who is charged in the matter, Mostert argued.In addition, claims that Shiwalo and Kondja had been seen in each other’s company the evening before the robbery – something that Shiwalo denies – said nothing and did not make Shiwalo an accomplice, Mostert added.Miller readily conceded that the direct evidence produced by the prosecution so far was not as strong against Kamati and Shiwalo as it was against Kondja.However, there was not just a reasonable possibility, but a real probability, that Kondja would still go into the witness box and give evidence supplementing the State’s case against the other two suspects, she said.If that happened after the court had already discharged Kamati and Shiwalo, it would be a fiasco, she remarked.Acting Judge Parker is set to give his ruling on the discharge application today.Kamati, Shiwalo and 28-year-old Naftalie Kondja are jointly facing charges of murder and robbery with aggravating circumstances in connection with the fatal shooting of Mooren on a Swakopmund beach on August 13 2004.They are further charged with theft in connection with a break-in during which the .22 revolver with which Mooren was later shot was stolen from a locked car at Swakopmund on the day before her death.Kamati, who has chosen to stand trial without legal representation, told Acting Judge Parker on Wednesday that he wanted to be discharged at this stage of the trial simply because he is an innocent man.”I’m innocent in this matter, because I did not commit any offence,” he told the court.Shiwalo’s defence counsel, Christie Mostert, told the court that there was no case against this client at this stage.Incriminating allegations that Kondja, who has admitted that he robbed Mooren of her handbag and that he shot her dead in the process, is claimed to have made against Shiwalo in a confession that is part of the evidence before court is not evidence against Shiwalo, because there is no evidence before the court that the person referred to in the statement by Kondja is indeed the Temus Shiwalo who is charged in the matter, Mostert argued.In addition, claims that Shiwalo and Kondja had been seen in each other’s company the evening before the robbery – something that Shiwalo denies – said nothing and did not make Shiwalo an accomplice, Mostert added.Miller readily conceded that the direct evidence produced by the prosecution so far was not as strong against Kamati and Shiwalo as it was against Kondja.However, there was not just a reasonable possibility, but a real probability, that Kondja would still go into the witness box and give evidence supplementing the State’s case against the other two suspects, she said.If that happened after the court had already discharged Kamati and Shiwalo, it would be a fiasco, she remarked.Acting Judge Parker is set to give his ruling on the discharge application today.