Epacha burglary raid suspect stays in jail

ONE of the men accused of carrying out a daring burglary raid on a posh tourist lodge in the Outjo area late last year failed when he went to the High Court yesterday in an attempt to be released on bail.

The 29-year-old Elifas Mashuna, also known as Kakiya, appeared before Judge Louis Muller and Acting Judge John Manyarara in the High Court in Windhoek to appeal against a ruling with which the Outjo Magistrate’s Court turned down an application from him to be released on bail. His appeal was dismissed.Judge Muller said he could not find any reason for interfering with the Outjo Magistrate’s decision not to grant Mashuna bail.Acting Judge Manyarara supported Judge Muller’s ruling.Mashuna and four co-accused face a charge of housebreaking with intent to steal and theft.It is alleged that they burgled five bungalows at Epacha Lodge northwest of Outjo on the evening of November 22 last year.Foreign currency and a range of other items, including credit cards and cameras, were stolen.The Police arrested the first suspects – Windhoek residents Paulus Amathila (26), who is alleged to have been found carrying foreign currency hidden in a seam of his pants, Christoph Christiaan Iikuti (28), and Titus Nekamba Shoombe (31) – in the Kamanjab area a day and a half after the incident.That was after a vehicle suspected to have been used by the burglars was found overturned about a kilometre outside Kamanjab.Not only a driver’s licence, but also a Post Office savings book and a bail receipt in Mashuna’s name, as well as his cellphone, were found in that car.Mashuna, a Windhoek resident, was arrested on December 5 after he handed himself over to the Police.The fifth suspect to be arrested was the identical twin brother of Titus Shoombe, Matheus Nekamba Shoombe.Mashuna claimed that he had been using the car in question as a taxi, but had lent it to a friend at the time of the break-in.The court that heard his bail application however also heard that Amathila had alleged that Mashuna had been part of the group of people that carried out the burglary, Judge Muller noted.He further noted that the Outjo court had also been told that phone records showed that several phone calls had been made from Mashuna’s cellphone on the night of the incident, and that this had happened in the Kamanjab area.Not only items belonging to Mashuna, but also items linked to other break-ins that had taken place at Outjo before the Epacha burglary were found in the car.His appeal was dismissed.Judge Muller said he could not find any reason for interfering with the Outjo Magistrate’s decision not to grant Mashuna bail.Acting Judge Manyarara supported Judge Muller’s ruling.Mashuna and four co-accused face a charge of housebreaking with intent to steal and theft.It is alleged that they burgled five bungalows at Epacha Lodge northwest of Outjo on the evening of November 22 last year.Foreign currency and a range of other items, including credit cards and cameras, were stolen.The Police arrested the first suspects – Windhoek residents Paulus Amathila (26), who is alleged to have been found carrying foreign currency hidden in a seam of his pants, Christoph Christiaan Iikuti (28), and Titus Nekamba Shoombe (31) – in the Kamanjab area a day and a half after the incident.That was after a vehicle suspected to have been used by the burglars was found overturned about a kilometre outside Kamanjab.Not only a driver’s licence, but also a Post Office savings book and a bail receipt in Mashuna’s name, as well as his cellphone, were found in that car.Mashuna, a Windhoek resident, was arrested on December 5 after he handed himself over to the Police.The fifth suspect to be arrested was the identical twin brother of Titus Shoombe, Matheus Nekamba Shoombe.Mashuna claimed that he had been using the car in question as a taxi, but had lent it to a friend at the time of the break-in.The court that heard his bail application however also heard that Amathila had alleged that Mashuna had been part of the group of people that carried out the burglary, Judge Muller noted.He further noted that the Outjo court had also been told that phone records showed that several phone calls had been made from Mashuna’s cellphone on the night of the incident, and that this had happened in the Kamanjab area.Not only items belonging to Mashuna, but also items linked to other break-ins that had taken place at Outjo before the Epacha burglary were found in the car.