Child murder trial close to turning point

THE High Court trial of child rape and murder suspect Lesley Kukame could reach a turning point at the beginning of November with the hearing of legal arguments aimed at determining whether potentially crucial alleged admissions and a confession made by Kukame should be admitted as evidence.

Kukame (27) pleaded not guilty to charges of murder, rape and abduction, alternatively kidnapping, when his trial started before Judge Kato van Niekerk two weeks ago. He is accused of abducting a three-and-a-half-year-old girl, who may only be identified as M, between February 7 and 10 2005 from the house where she stayed in Independence Avenue in Katutura.The girl went missing on February 7 2005.On February 10 2005, her body was found in a small room attached to the disused Katutura Cinema Hall, which is situated next to the house where she had disappeared from.A jersey had been tied around her neck and her panties had been stuffed into her mouth.She had also been sodomised.The doctor who performed a post mortem examination on M’s body concluded that she had suffocated.Kukame had been posted at the Cinema Hall as a security guard during the day in the time that M went missing.Of the eight days of proceedings in the trial so far, six have been devoted to the hearing of a trial within a trial to determine whether Judge Van Niekerk should allow the prosecution to use alleged admissions and a confession made by Kukame after his arrest on February 10 2005.Kukame’s defence lawyer, Ivo dos Santos, has told the Judge that he was objecting against the statements being used as evidence, as these had not been made freely and voluntarily and Kukame’s rights – including the right to legal representation – had been violated before the statements were made.One of the allegedly self-incriminating statements is claimed to have been written by Kukame himself, after he had undergone a lie detector test at the office of former Police detective Nelius Becker on February 11 2005.Becker, who had already testified in the trial within a trial a week earlier, was called back to the witness stand on Thursday to answer more questions on the process that is said to have resulted in Kukame writing a statement in his own hand after Becker had conducted a polygraph examination on him.Becker flatly denied a claim by Kukame that he had promised Kukame that the latter would be granted bail if he made a statement.”That is absolutely not true at all,” Becker responded when asked about that claim from Kukame.He said he had made a video recording of the interview he had with Kukame, and having watched this again, he could see that on three occasions during the interview he had told Kukame that he could not make any promises to him, that he could not promise Kukame that nothing would happen to him, and that the word “bail” never entered their conversation.Becker said after the lie detector test Kukame did not just suddenly confess that he had committed rape and murder.After the test, he questioned Kukame, urging him to tell the truth and co-operate with him, and telling him that he thought Kukame had been lying to him, Becker said.Kukame was not threatened or influenced in any way, Becker said.He added that Kukame eventually co-operated with him because he had boxed Kukame in with his questioning – confronting Kukame with certain facts, after which Kukame would change his version, then confronting him with another question, after which Kukame would again change his version, until Kukame finally admitted to certain facts, Becker related.Right before Kukame eventually started writing an allegedly incriminating statement in his own hand, he stopped Kukame and told him that what he was going to write down could be used either against him or for him in a court, Becker added.Kukame has been in Police custody without bail since the day of his arrest.He is set to remain in custody until his case returns to court on November 1.He is accused of abducting a three-and-a-half-year-old girl, who may only be identified as M, between February 7 and 10 2005 from the house where she stayed in Independence Avenue in Katutura.The girl went missing on February 7 2005.On February 10 2005, her body was found in a small room attached to the disused Katutura Cinema Hall, which is situated next to the house where she had disappeared from.A jersey had been tied around her neck and her panties had been stuffed into her mouth.She had also been sodomised.The doctor who performed a post mortem examination on M’s body concluded that she had suffocated.Kukame had been posted at the Cinema Hall as a security guard during the day in the time that M went missing.Of the eight days of proceedings in the trial so far, six have been devoted to the hearing of a trial within a trial to determine whether Judge Van Niekerk should allow the prosecution to use alleged admissions and a confession made by Kukame after his arrest on February 10 2005. Kukame’s defence lawyer, Ivo dos Santos, has told the Judge that he was objecting against the statements being used as evidence, as these had not been made freely and voluntarily and Kukame’s rights – including the right to legal representation – had been violated before the statements were made.One of the allegedly self-incriminating statements is claimed to have been written by Kukame himself, after he had undergone a lie detector test at the office of former Police detective Nelius Becker on February 11 2005.Becker, who had already testified in the trial within a trial a week earlier, was called back to the witness stand on Thursday to answer more questions on the process that is said to have resulted in Kukame writing a statement in his own hand after Becker had conducted a polygraph examination on him.Becker flatly denied a claim by Kukame that he had promised Kukame that the latter would be granted bail if he made a statement.”That is absolutely not true at all,” Becker responded when asked about that claim from Kukame.He said he had made a video recording of the interview he had with Kukame, and having watched this again, he could see that on three occasions during the interview he had told Kukame that he could not make any promises to him, that he could not promise Kukame that nothing would happen to him, and that the word “bail” never entered their conversation.Becker said after the lie detector test Kukame did not just suddenly confess that he had committed rape and murder.After the test, he questioned Kukame, urging him to tell the truth and co-operate with him, and telling him that he thought Kukame had been lying to him, Becker said.Kukame was not threatened or influenced in any way, Becker said.He added that Kukame eventually co-operated with him because he had boxed Kukame in with his questioning – confronting Kukame with certain facts, after which Kukame would change his version, then confronting him with another question, after which Kukame would again change his version, until Kukame finally admitted to certain facts, Becker related.Right before Kukame eventually started writing an allegedly incriminating statement in his own hand, he stopped Kukame and told him that what he was going to write down could be used either against him or for him in a court, Becker added.Kukame has been in Police custody without bail since the day of his arrest.He is set to remain in custody until his case returns to court on November 1.