Four to be tried for rape and murder

THE starting date of the Regional Court trial of four young men who are accused of brutally raping and murdering a 23-year-old woman in Windhoek two years ago was pushed back to the end of November this week.

The trial of the four accused men – Windhoek residents Sam Angolo (23), Jonathan Ashipala Taapopi (21), Stephanus Lazarus (26) and Thomas Philemon (25), who is also known as Thomas Fillemon – had been scheduled to start before Magistrate Dinnah Usiku in the Windhoek Regional Court on Monday. The four charged men are accused of raping and murdering 23-year-old Theresia Afrikaner in Okuryangava in Windhoek on May 14 2005 – exactly two years to the day before their latest court appearance this week.Their trial did not get out of the starting blocks this week, though.With Taapopi still not legally represented, although he told the court he had applied to the Directorate of Legal Aid to be provided with a defence lawyer, and Philemon’s lawyer, Edwin Coetzee, telling the Magistrate that he was still waiting to have a copy of the Police docket on the case disclosed to him, the trial was postponed to November 26 to 28 instead.The trial had been set down on the court’s roll for the first three days of this week.Seven prosecution witnesses were at court on Monday, ready to testify.They were warned to return to court on November 26.Each of the four men faces a charge of murder and four counts of rape.They are accused of murdering Afrikaner in a riverbed in Okuryangava, and of having each raped her as well.As a result of the role that each is alleged to have played in helping his co-accused to rape her, they are each facing four counts of rape.It is alleged that Afrikaner spent the evening of her death socialising at shebeens in Okuryangava.Towards the end of the evening, it is claimed, the suspects became involved in an argument with her because they were claiming that they had bought drinks for her during the evening, and as a result they thought she owed them something in return.It is alleged that they started beating her in front of some eyewitnesses, whose efforts to stop this attack were ignored.They then allegedly dragged her away in the direction of a dry riverbed.There, it is alleged, she was raped and murdered in a brutal manner by being beaten to a pulp and, finally, being strangled.All four suspects are remaining in custody pending the start of their trial.Public Prosecutor Brownwell Uirab represented the State during Monday’s court appearance, while defence counsel Jan Wessels appeared on behalf of Angolo on instructions from the Directorate of Legal Aid.The four charged men are accused of raping and murdering 23-year-old Theresia Afrikaner in Okuryangava in Windhoek on May 14 2005 – exactly two years to the day before their latest court appearance this week.Their trial did not get out of the starting blocks this week, though.With Taapopi still not legally represented, although he told the court he had applied to the Directorate of Legal Aid to be provided with a defence lawyer, and Philemon’s lawyer, Edwin Coetzee, telling the Magistrate that he was still waiting to have a copy of the Police docket on the case disclosed to him, the trial was postponed to November 26 to 28 instead.The trial had been set down on the court’s roll for the first three days of this week.Seven prosecution witnesses were at court on Monday, ready to testify.They were warned to return to court on November 26.Each of the four men faces a charge of murder and four counts of rape.They are accused of murdering Afrikaner in a riverbed in Okuryangava, and of having each raped her as well.As a result of the role that each is alleged to have played in helping his co-accused to rape her, they are each facing four counts of rape.It is alleged that Afrikaner spent the evening of her death socialising at shebeens in Okuryangava.Towards the end of the evening, it is claimed, the suspects became involved in an argument with her because they were claiming that they had bought drinks for her during the evening, and as a result they thought she owed them something in return.It is alleged that they started beating her in front of some eyewitnesses, whose efforts to stop this attack were ignored.They then allegedly dragged her away in the direction of a dry riverbed.There, it is alleged, she was raped and murdered in a brutal manner by being beaten to a pulp and, finally, being strangled.All four suspects are remaining in custody pending the start of their trial.Public Prosecutor Brownwell Uirab represented the State during Monday’s court appearance, while defence counsel Jan Wessels appeared on behalf of Angolo on instructions from the Directorate of Legal Aid.