Double murder suspect found guilty as charged

GUILTY, guilty, guilty, guilty. Charged with two counts of murder, a count of attempted murder and a last charge of assault, this was the verdict that Angeles Mikini heard in his trial in the High Court in Windhoek on Friday.

Eleven days after Mikini (40) pleaded not guilty to all four charges at the start of his trial, Judge Nate Ndauendapo convicted him on all charges. He also found that Mikini had direct intention to kill when he murdered his wife, Magdalena Maholland-Mikini (34), and her cousin, John Robert Orlam (41), in Windhoek on May 17 last year.Maholland-Mikini and Orlam were both shot dead in a bedroom of a house in Isak Kazongari Street, Katutura.In the judgement he delivered on Friday, Judge Ndauendapo stated that the evidence in Mikini’s trial was so overwhelming that he was compelled to accept the prosecution’s version.This, he indicated, proved that when Mikini shot dead his wife and Orlam, and wounded Orlam’s wife, Estelle Orlam in the neck, he was not suffering from a temporary abnormal state of mind that would mean that he could not be held accountable for his actions.Mikini indicated through his lawyer, Louis Karsten, at the start of the trial that he was basing his defence on claims that he had acted in selfdefence and that he was temporarily mentally incapacitated at the time.There was no evidence to support Mikini’s claim that he had been attacked by Orlam just before he started firing shots at Orlam and Maholland-Mikini, though, Judge Ndauendapo found.He noted that according to two witnesses Orlam was asleep in his bed when he was shot.Also noting that reports on postmortem examinations of Orlam and Maholland-Mikini showed that he was shot five times, with four shots in the upper part of his body, while she was shot six times in the upper part of her body, Judge Ndauendapo stated that it was evident that when Mikini shot them his intention was to kill them.Earlier on the evening of the murders Mikini and his wife had an argument over N$100 that she accused him of having taken out of her wallet.During this argument, Mikini slapped Maholland-Mikini in the face, witnesses who were present testified during the trial.This slap resulted in Mikini being convicted of assault on Friday.After Mikini had slapped her, Maholland-Mikini told him that he should gather his belongings and leave the house, the court also heard during the trial.Mikini then left the house, went to a room in the backyard where he and his wife were living, and returned to the house with a pistol.The shooting then broke out.Three of the witnesses who testified during the trial – Maholland- Mikini’s two sisters and a daughter from a previous relationship – told the court that they locked themselves in other bedrooms in the house after the shooting had started.After they had heard a number of shots being fired, Mikini came to knock at the door of one of the rooms, they testified.As he did this, he called out to one of Maholland-Mikini’s sisters, telling her that she should come out of the room to see how he had shot her sister “like a dog”, Judge Ndauendapo recounted in his judgement.Mikini claimed that he could not remember the shooting itself and that this was “like a dream”.He however remembered events that took place that evening up to the shooting, and also thereafter, in detail, the Judge noted.He commented on Mikini’s testimony: “I closely observed the accused in the witness box and he made a poor impression on me.His answers to questions in cross-examination were evasive, unconvincing and contradictory.In some instances it was simply nonsense and a fiction of his own imagination.”Mikini is set to return to court today for the hearing of possible further evidence and arguments from Karsten and Deputy Prosecutor General Zenobia Barry before he is sentenced.He also found that Mikini had direct intention to kill when he murdered his wife, Magdalena Maholland-Mikini (34), and her cousin, John Robert Orlam (41), in Windhoek on May 17 last year.Maholland-Mikini and Orlam were both shot dead in a bedroom of a house in Isak Kazongari Street, Katutura.In the judgement he delivered on Friday, Judge Ndauendapo stated that the evidence in Mikini’s trial was so overwhelming that he was compelled to accept the prosecution’s version.This, he indicated, proved that when Mikini shot dead his wife and Orlam, and wounded Orlam’s wife, Estelle Orlam in the neck, he was not suffering from a temporary abnormal state of mind that would mean that he could not be held accountable for his actions.Mikini indicated through his lawyer, Louis Karsten, at the start of the trial that he was basing his defence on claims that he had acted in selfdefence and that he was temporarily mentally incapacitated at the time.There was no evidence to support Mikini’s claim that he had been attacked by Orlam just before he started firing shots at Orlam and Maholland-Mikini, though, Judge Ndauendapo found.He noted that according to two witnesses Orlam was asleep in his bed when he was shot.Also noting that reports on postmortem examinations of Orlam and Maholland-Mikini showed that he was shot five times, with four shots in the upper part of his body, while she was shot six times in the upper part of her body, Judge Ndauendapo stated that it was evident that when Mikini shot them his intention was to kill them.Earlier on the evening of the murders Mikini and his wife had an argument over N$100 that she accused him of having taken out of her wallet.During this argument, Mikini slapped Maholland-Mikini in the face, witnesses who were present testified during the trial.This slap resulted in Mikini being convicted of assault on Friday.After Mikini had slapped her, Maholland-Mikini told him that he should gather his belongings and leave the house, the court also heard during the trial.Mikini then left the house, went to a room in the backyard where he and his wife were living, and returned to the house with a pistol.The shooting then broke out.Three of the witnesses who testified during the trial – Maholland- Mikini’s two sisters and a daughter from a previous relationship – told the court that they locked themselves in other bedrooms in the house after the shooting had started.After they had heard a number of shots being fired, Mikini came to knock at the door of one of the rooms, they testified.As he did this, he called out to one of Maholland-Mikini’s sisters, telling her that she should come out of the room to see how he had shot her sister “like a dog”, Judge Ndauendapo recounted in his judgement.Mikini claimed that he could not remember the shooting itself and that this was “like a dream”.He however remembered events that took place that evening up to the shooting, and also thereafter, in detail, the Judge noted.He commented on Mikini’s testimony: “I closely observed the accused in the witness box and he made a poor impression on me.His answers to questions in cross-examination were evasive, unconvincing and contradictory.In some instances it was simply nonsense and a fiction of his own imagination.”Mikini is set to return to court today for the hearing of possible further evidence and arguments from Karsten and Deputy Prosecutor General Zenobia Barry before he is sentenced.

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