Delay number 14 in rape case

THE case in which a former homeless child is accused of having raped and murdered a 14-year-old boy in Windhoek just before Christmas 2003 was again postponed yesterday for further investigations to be done.

Over the two years and eight months since his arrest on December 23 2003 – the same day that he allegedly murdered the 14-year-old Cristo Moshoeshoe – Deon Engelbrecht has now appeared in court 14 times. And still he and his alleged victim’s family have not received any indication of what will be happening to his case.His appearance in the Windhoek Magistrate’s Court yesterday was initially meant for Engelbrecht (22) to be told what the Prosecutor General had decided about the further course his case would be taking.That did not happen, though, with Public Prosecutor Petrus Grusshaber instead informing Magistrate Valmary van Rooi that he had received instructions that the case would have to be postponed again for further investigations to be done.He had been advised that some laboratory results were still outstanding, Grusshaber told the court.Engelbrecht’s case has now been postponed twice – the first time was in February this year – for the Prosecutor General’s decision to be taken on his case.Other postponements that have accounted for the repeated delays that have marked the case, have been for further investigations to be done, for legal aid to be granted to Engelbrecht, and to get hold of the Police docket on the matter when this was not at court as required.Engelbrecht has remained in Police custody since his arrest in late 2003.He is accused of having murdered Moshoeshoe in a patch of veld near Windhoek’s Southern Industrial Area on December 23 2003.At his first court appearance on December 29 2003, the then homeless, barefoot, 19-year-old Engelbrecht told the presiding Magistrate that he had been smoking a Mandrax tablet before the incident.He related that after he had used the drug, he asked Moshoeshoe if he could have sexual intercourse with him.He then had intercourse with the boy, before a fight broke out between them and the killing happened, Engelbrecht told the court.According to the Police, it is suspected that Moshoeshoe was killed when a concrete pavement brick was thrown onto his head, fracturing his skull.Moshoeshoe was attending school at Kalkrand in the year before his death.He was at home in Windhoek for the summer holidays when he died.And still he and his alleged victim’s family have not received any indication of what will be happening to his case.His appearance in the Windhoek Magistrate’s Court yesterday was initially meant for Engelbrecht (22) to be told what the Prosecutor General had decided about the further course his case would be taking.That did not happen, though, with Public Prosecutor Petrus Grusshaber instead informing Magistrate Valmary van Rooi that he had received instructions that the case would have to be postponed again for further investigations to be done.He had been advised that some laboratory results were still outstanding, Grusshaber told the court.Engelbrecht’s case has now been postponed twice – the first time was in February this year – for the Prosecutor General’s decision to be taken on his case.Other postponements that have accounted for the repeated delays that have marked the case, have been for further investigations to be done, for legal aid to be granted to Engelbrecht, and to get hold of the Police docket on the matter when this was not at court as required.Engelbrecht has remained in Police custody since his arrest in late 2003.He is accused of having murdered Moshoeshoe in a patch of veld near Windhoek’s Southern Industrial Area on December 23 2003.At his first court appearance on December 29 2003, the then homeless, barefoot, 19-year-old Engelbrecht told the presiding Magistrate that he had been smoking a Mandrax tablet before the incident.He related that after he had used the drug, he asked Moshoeshoe if he could have sexual intercourse with him.He then had intercourse with the boy, before a fight broke out between them and the killing happened, Engelbrecht told the court.According to the Police, it is suspected that Moshoeshoe was killed when a concrete pavement brick was thrown onto his head, fracturing his skull.Moshoeshoe was attending school at Kalkrand in the year before his death.He was at home in Windhoek for the summer holidays when he died.