Farmworkers found guilty of murdering Gobabis couple and torching their home in 2018

Two farmworkers accused of murdering their employers and setting their house on fire in the Gobabis district seven years ago were both found guilty in the Windhoek High Court yesterday.

Judge Naomi Shivute convicted Bernadus Afrikaner and Salathuel Unaeb both on four charges, including two counts of murder, in connection with the deaths of farming couple Armin (68) and Brunhild Riedel (66) on 20 January 2018.

The couple’s bodies were burnt when their house was torched after they had been killed at their farm in the Gobabis district.

Afrikaner and Unaeb, who were employed by the couple, stood trial on 11 charges in connection with the Riedels’ deaths.

The two men denied guilt on all charges at the start of their trial in December 2023.

In the judgement she delivered yesterday, Shivute found Afrikaner and Unaeb both guilty on two counts of murder, committed with a direct intention to kill, and charges of arson and robbery with aggravating circumstances.

Shivute also convicted Afrikaner of the possession of a pistol that belonged to Brunhild Riedel and the unlawful supply of a firearm, while Unaeb was found guilty on a count of assault by threat as well.

Both accused were acquitted on a charge of rape, with Shivute remarking that the state did not prove that Brunhild Riedel had been raped.

The judge recounted that a farmworker also employed by the Riedels told the court he had seen Unaeb grabbing Brunhild Riedel and forcing her into the couple’s house, followed by Afrikaner, on 20 January 2018.

When Unaeb realised the witness had seen him, he approached the witness and threatened to assault him, before Afrikaner told him to leave the witness alone, the court heard from the witness.

The witness also testified that when Armin Riedel returned to the farmhouse in the afternoon, both Afrikaner and Unaeb followed him into the house.

The couple was not seen alive again after they had been observed going into the house.

Although the fellow farmworker was a single witness, his testimony was credible and there was no reason to reject it, Shivute said.

The court also heard that when the Riedels’ farmworkers saw the couple’s house going up in flames that evening, Afrikaner refused to go to the burning house to see what was going on, saying he did not want to leave footprints at the scene, while Unaeb stayed in his room and told others to go to sleep.

Another witness told the court she visited the farm about two months before the deaths of the Riedels, and during her visit she heard an angry Afrikaner saying he would make a plan to hurt Armin Riedel, because Riedel was shouting at him.

Witnesses also testified that after the couple’s deaths, Afrikaner sold a pistol registered in Brunhild Riedel’s name to someone at Gobabis.

One of the prosecution’s witnesses testified that Afrikaner told her he had forced Brunhild Riedel into the house, and that he shot her and also her husband.

Unaeb told another witness that he did not kill, but was involved in the crimes committed at the Riedels’ farm.

Shivute found that Afrikaner and Unaeb made common cause with each other when they forced the couple into their house, and their conduct when the house was burning was an indication that they knew what was going on.

The only reasonable inference to be drawn from the evidence is that they killed and robbed the couple and set fire to their house, Shivute concluded.

Afrikaner and Unaeb have to appear in court again on 17 June for a presentence hearing.

State advocate Ethel Ndlovu is prosecuting. Afrikaner and Unaeb are being represented by defence lawyer Melissa Windisch.

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