Hotel cash theft suspect gets bail

ONE of the two people arrested in connection with the alleged theft of the equivalent of close to half a million Namibia dollars from the Windhoek hotel room of a senior Angolan military officer a little over two weeks ago was granted bail of N$10 000 in the Windhoek Magistrate’s Court on Friday.

Deon Meyer Eiseb (33), who is facing a charge of theft in connection with the incident at the city’s Safari Hotel on January 16, was granted bail in a ruling made by Magistrate Elsie Schickerling at the end of a bail hearing that had been in progress before her since Tuesday last week.The Magistrate ordered in her ruling that Eiseb could be released from Police custody if he pays bail of N$10 000, and on condition that he has to report at the Windhoek Police Station each Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday morning, that he may not apply to be issued with any travel documents, that he may not leave the district of Windhoek without the permission of the Police officer in charge of the investigation of his case, and that he may not interfere with the Police’s investigation of the matter.Eiseb also may not in any manner have contact with his co-accused in the case, Frieda Agnes Warner (25), except when they appear in court together, the Magistrate ordered.She noted in her ruling that the only evidence that is said to connect Eiseb to the theft are claims that a taxi driver reported dropping off Warner, and also a briefcase suspected to have contained the money stolen from the hotel, at Eiseb’s home in Katutura on the evening of January 16.Three cellphones that were allegedly stolen at the same time that the US$45 000 (about N$448 000) is claimed to have been stolen from the hotel room, were also found in the pockets of a jacket belonging to Eiseb at a Windhoek lodge where Eiseb and Warner allegedly spent the weekend following the theft, the Magistrate also recounted.The court heard during Eiseb’s bail application that it is claimed that Warner was seen in the company of the complainant in the matter, Angolan citizen Manuel del Fina, who is said to be a general in the Angolan armed forces, on the day before the alleged theft.On January 16, she allegedly arrived at the Safari Hotel, where she asked for the key to Del Fina’s room at the hotel reception desk. Having been given the key, she later returned to the reception area with a briefcase, and asked that a taxi be called for her, the court was told.The taxi driver later told the Police that Warner asked him for an instrument with which she then broke open the briefcase, and that she paid him US$200 for the transport he provided to her.The court was also told that the Police were informed that the money that was allegedly stolen belonged to the Angolan military. The Police were told that Del Fina had brought the money into Namibia on a mission to buy aircraft fuel for the Angolan military, the court was informed.Magistrate Schickerling remarked in her ruling that it was apparent that on the evidence before the court Eiseb was arrested not so much because the Police had evidence that implicated him in the alleged theft, but because the Police were trying, through his arrest, to win more time to look for evidence that might still implicate him.’This is definitely not acceptable to this court and will not be tolerated,’ she commented.Eiseb was in custody since being arrested on January 20. He was represented by defence lawyer Bradley Basson during the bail application. Public Prosecutor Petrus Grusshaber appeared for the State.