Court forfeits missing murder suspect’s bail

THE bail paid by a murder suspect who vanished on the day that his trial was supposed to start in the High Court in Windhoek two weeks ago was finally declared forfeited to the State on Wednesday.

Johannes Amunyela was still nowhere to be found at the High Court, where he was scheduled to go on trial on January 31, when his case returned to court on Wednesday. After Amunyela (36) failed to arrive at court for the start of his trial two weeks ago, Judge President Petrus Damaseb issued a warrant for his arrest and declared his bail provisionally forfeited to the State.With Amunyela still not rearrested by Wednesday, Judge Louis Muller ordered the bail forfeited to the State.State advocate Dominic Lisulo asked the Judge to make that order, while the warrant that was issued for Amunyela’s arrest remains in force.Amunyela was released after he had been granted bail of N$3 000 on December 14 2004, by which time he had spent close to five months in Police custody following his arrest on a charge of murder.He was arrested on July 22 2004 – the same day that his girlfriend, Aina Niita Shiimi (26) died at Olukango, a village in the Ondangwa district, from a multitude of stab wounds.Amunyela is accused of murdering Shiimi by stabbing her 23 times with a knife.Before he skipped bail, Amunyela himself did not indicate to the court what his plea would be to the murder charge that he is facing.Legal Aid counsel Patience Daringo, who represented him when he made a pre-trial appearance in the High Court in August last year, has however informed the court that although Amunyela does not deny causing the death of Shiimi, he would plead not guilty.Amunyela denies inflicting the 23 stab wounds that are alleged to have claimed Shiimi’s life, Daringo stated in a pre-trial statement.He remembers inflicting five or six stab wounds, but was “overcome with emotions” at that stage, after Shiimi had first attacked him with a knife, Daringo related.Amunyela did not intend to kill Shiimi, and only attacked her in retaliation after she had first attacked him, she stated.She added that relations between Amunyela and Shiimi, who was his girlfriend and the mother of his child, had soured after he “discovered to his utter dismay some traditional medicine” between her legs and on their bed when they were about to retire for the night the previous evening.They were on their way to Shiimi’s family on the next day when a quarrel broke out between them and the deadly stabbing took place, Daringo related.After Amunyela (36) failed to arrive at court for the start of his trial two weeks ago, Judge President Petrus Damaseb issued a warrant for his arrest and declared his bail provisionally forfeited to the State.With Amunyela still not rearrested by Wednesday, Judge Louis Muller ordered the bail forfeited to the State.State advocate Dominic Lisulo asked the Judge to make that order, while the warrant that was issued for Amunyela’s arrest remains in force.Amunyela was released after he had been granted bail of N$3 000 on December 14 2004, by which time he had spent close to five months in Police custody following his arrest on a charge of murder.He was arrested on July 22 2004 – the same day that his girlfriend, Aina Niita Shiimi (26) died at Olukango, a village in the Ondangwa district, from a multitude of stab wounds.Amunyela is accused of murdering Shiimi by stabbing her 23 times with a knife.Before he skipped bail, Amunyela himself did not indicate to the court what his plea would be to the murder charge that he is facing.Legal Aid counsel Patience Daringo, who represented him when he made a pre-trial appearance in the High Court in August last year, has however informed the court that although Amunyela does not deny causing the death of Shiimi, he would plead not guilty.Amunyela denies inflicting the 23 stab wounds that are alleged to have claimed Shiimi’s life, Daringo stated in a pre-trial statement.He remembers inflicting five or six stab wounds, but was “overcome with emotions” at that stage, after Shiimi had first attacked him with a knife, Daringo related.Amunyela did not intend to kill Shiimi, and only attacked her in retaliation after she had first attacked him, she stated.She added that relations between Amunyela and Shiimi, who was his girlfriend and the mother of his child, had soured after he “discovered to his utter dismay some traditional medicine” between her legs and on their bed when they were about to retire for the night the previous evening.They were on their way to Shiimi’s family on the next day when a quarrel broke out between them and the deadly stabbing took place, Daringo related.