Day of reckoning in brutal murder and corpse burning trial

CABINET member Ngarikutuke Tjiriange was a notable no-show in the High Court in Windhoek yesterday as the trial of his son on charges that include counts of murder and robbery entered its final phase.

Tjiriange’s son, Elias Nhinda-Tjiriange (29), returned to the High Court on Tuesday after a break of two and a half months in his trial, in which he has been convicted of murdering a cousin of his, robbing him, and later burning his body in Windhoek near the end of 2004.With Nhinda-Tjiriange’s return to court, Judge Sylvester Mainga started hearing testimony in mitigation of the sentence that is to be imposed on him on the five charges on which he was convicted on August 12 last year.After hearing testimony from clinical psychologist Edwina Mensah-Husselmann, who had been asked to do a psychological evaluation of Nhinda-Tjiriange after his conviction, Judge Mainga was asked on Tuesday to postpone the case until yesterday.Nhinda-Tjiriange’s defence lawyer, Bradley Basson, asked for the postponement after he told the Judge that Nhinda-Tjiriange had phoned his father, and that Minister Tjiriange had told Nhinda-Tjiriange that he would be available to testify in mitigation on his son’s behalf yesterday morning.Tjiriange did not arrive at court for his expected testimony, though.After Nhinda-Tjiriange made a couple of phone calls to his office, the court was told that Nhinda-Tjiriange had been informed that his father was in a meeting.Tjiriange has not attended any of the court proceedings in his son’s trial.Nhinda-Tjiriange pleaded guilty to charges of murder, defeating or obstru ssion of a firearms and ammunition on August 5 last year.He pleaded not guilty to an additional charge of robbery with aggravating circumstances. Judge Mainga later also convicted him on that charge.Nhinda-Tjiriange admitted that he murdered his cousin, 24-year-old teacher Villi Heikky Taukondjelwa Asino, in the Okahandja Park area of Windhoek on December 20 2004. He shot Asino in the head and neck with a 9 mm pistol.He has told Judge Mainga that the murder was committed when he lost his temper after Asino refused to pay back N$25 000 that Nhinda-Tjiriange had previously paid to him as a deposit for a car Asino was selling to Nhinda-Tjiriange.After the murder, Nhinda-Tjiriange loaded Asino’s body into the boot of Asino’s car. The body stayed there for the day, until Nhinda-Tjiriange returned to the Okahandja Park area that evening, dragged the body into a riverbed, placed a tyre on it, doused it with petrol and set it on fire.Nhinda-Tjiriange was arrested at about 03h00 the next day, about an hour after he had finished cleaning Asino’s blood from the car.Mensah-Husselmann told Judge Mainga on Tuesday that Nhinda-Tjiriange has an above average level of intelligence.In a report she compiled for the court, she stated: ‘The aggressive acts Elias Tjiriange displayed cannot be attributed to his personality per se, but rather to immaturity and regression in his development and stimulation thereof. He led a fast-paced, adventurous and dangerous lifestyle which was driven by adrenalin rather than common sense.’Nhinda-Tjiriange could be a well-adjusted person when receiving guidance and ample rehabilitation, but long-term imprisonment can contaminate his mind, as he is susceptible to popularity and pleasing others, she reported.Mensah-Husselmann told the court that she also interviewed Nhinda-Tjiriange’s father before she wrote her report. His father believes that he and Nhinda-Tjiriange’s mother drove their son in different directions, and that the discipline that he wanted to instil in his son was eroded by his son’s mother.Nhinda-Tjiriange’s parents divorced when he was about a year old, Mensah-Husselmann reported. Nhinda-Tjiriange lived with his mother under very difficult conditions in a refugee camp until he went to live with his father when he was about five years old, she was told.After he had returned to Namibia with his father, he later went to live with his mother in England, the court was informed. His mother died in 2000, Mensah-Husselmann also related.She reported that Tjiriange described his son as ‘a nice, polite fellow’, and as a person who would never deny his own wrongdoing and who would go out of his way to please others.While Tjiriange agreed that his son had to be punished for a serious crime, he was also apprehensive about the schooling that his son would be exposed to in jail, Mensah-Husselmann reported: ‘He hopes Elias would be given the opportunity to rectify his mistake, to rehabilitate and to be given a second chance to rebuild his life one day as a law-abiding citizen.’Nhinda-Tjiriange is set to be sentenced tomorrow.He told the Judge on Tuesday that he and Asino actually had a good relationship before the murder took place. After the incident he has realised that there could have been a better way to solve the dispute between him and Asino, he said.For the rest of his life he would have to live with the knowledge that he had killed his cousin, and his three children would similarly one day know that they father had killed one of their uncles, he said.State advocate Belinda Wantenaar is prosecuting.werner@namibian.com.na