JUDGE President Petrus Damaseb has started to deliver the verdict in Namibia’s largest murder trial since at least Independence.
The delivery of the verdict in the trial of the four men facing charges over the massacre of eight people at a farm between Rehoboth and Kalkrand in March 2005 started shortly after 12h00 in the High Court in Windhoek today.The public gallery in the courtroom where the judgement is being handed down was full when the Judge President started to read out his verdict by first listing the charges against the charged men and summarising the prosecution’s allegations against them, before going on to sum up the evidence heard during the trial.On trial over the murders committed at farm Kareeboomvloer during the weekend of March 4 to 5 2005 are brothers Sylvester and Gavin Beukes (aged 26 and 30 respectively), Windhoek resident Justus Christiaan (‘Shorty’) Erasmus (33), and Rehoboth area resident Stoney Neidel (34).Erasmus’s parents, who were the owners of Kareeboomvloer, were among the victims killed at the farm. Sylvester Beukes admitted during the trial that he committed the murders at the farm. He went much further as well, claiming that ‘Shorty’ Erasmus had asked him to murder Erasmus’s parents.Erasmus vehemently denied these allegations during the trial.It remains to be seen if the Judge President will be able to reach the conclusion of his judgement today, or if he will continue to read out his verdict tomorrow as well.The trial started on March 1 2007, when all four of the charged men pleaded not guilty to 15 charges, including eight counts of murder.* Read the full report on the judgement in The Namibian tomorrow.
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