Date set for Outjo farm shooting trial

THE trial of an Outjo farmer and a friend, who have been charged with murder over the racially tinged fatal shooting of a man in April last year, is scheduled to start on July 11.

The start of the trial of farmer Pieter Hendrik Spangenberg (40) and a friend of his, Christiaan Johannes Ayres (40), was set when defence lawyers Gerson Hinda and Herman Oosthuizen, who are representing Spangenberg and Ayres respectively, and State Advocate Orben Sibeya appeared before Judge Sylvester Mainga in the High Court in Windhoek yesterday. The trial had initially been set to start yesterday, but had to be postponed for another five weeks because the defence counsel had not been properly informed that the case had been set down for trial from yesterday to June 24.The trial has now been set down on the High Court roll from July 11 to 15.Spangenberg has already admitted that he shot a 26-year-old resident of the Kavango Region, Evelino Jacob, at the farm Zhukov in the Outjo district on April 24 last year.While he has indicated that he would plead not guilty to murder, he has offered a plea of guilty on a charge of culpable homicide, with his intention when he fired the shot set to be the major issue in the trial.Spangenberg admitted during his bail hearing that he had shot and killed a person who was trespassing on farm Zhukov, which belongs to his father-in-law and where he was staying at the time, at about 18h00 on April 24 last year.However, he claimed that the shot that killed Jacob, who is claimed to have carried a bag with snares, a knife and other goods with him, went off by accident.Spangenberg also denied claims that he later told a Police officer that he thought he was shooting at a baboon when he fired that shot.Those claims led to racially charged demonstrations at the Outjo Magistrate’s Court when the two suspects made their first appearances in court.They were arrested after Jacob’s body was found on the day after the shooting, next to the road at a spot some 55 kilometres from the scene where he had been shot.Ayres has been free on bail of N$5 000 since May last year.Spangenberg has remained in custody, after an appeal against a Magistrate’s Court decision denying him bail was refused in the High Court in July.The trial had initially been set to start yesterday, but had to be postponed for another five weeks because the defence counsel had not been properly informed that the case had been set down for trial from yesterday to June 24.The trial has now been set down on the High Court roll from July 11 to 15.Spangenberg has already admitted that he shot a 26-year-old resident of the Kavango Region, Evelino Jacob, at the farm Zhukov in the Outjo district on April 24 last year.While he has indicated that he would plead not guilty to murder, he has offered a plea of guilty on a charge of culpable homicide, with his intention when he fired the shot set to be the major issue in the trial.Spangenberg admitted during his bail hearing that he had shot and killed a person who was trespassing on farm Zhukov, which belongs to his father-in-law and where he was staying at the time, at about 18h00 on April 24 last year.However, he claimed that the shot that killed Jacob, who is claimed to have carried a bag with snares, a knife and other goods with him, went off by accident.Spangenberg also denied claims that he later told a Police officer that he thought he was shooting at a baboon when he fired that shot.Those claims led to racially charged demonstrations at the Outjo Magistrate’s Court when the two suspects made their first appearances in court.They were arrested after Jacob’s body was found on the day after the shooting, next to the road at a spot some 55 kilometres from the scene where he had been shot.Ayres has been free on bail of N$5 000 since May last year.Spangenberg has remained in custody, after an appeal against a Magistrate’s Court decision denying him bail was refused in the High Court in July.