Inspector admits shooting

SUSPENDED Police detective Michael Booysen is admitting that he fired a number of shots in his girlfriend’s flat at the Windhoek Central Hospital about three years ago, his lawyer revealed in the Windhoek Regional Court yesterday on the second day of Booysen’s trial on arson and six other charges.

Booysen (50) on Monday pleaded not guilty to seven charges connected to allegations that he had threatened to kill his girlfriend, Agnes Kooper, and eventually on August 9 2004 set her flat at the Nurses’ Home at the Windhoek Central Hospital on fire. With hospital superintendent Dr Jack Vries in the witness stand as the third prosecution witness to testify in the trial, Booysen’s defence counsel, Sisa Namandje, yesterday revealed some details of Booysen’s defence to the charges.Vries told Magistrate Christie Mostert that he had been called to the block of flats where Kooper lived on August 9 2004.In the foyer of the building, he saw Detective Inspector Booysen emerging from a lift.He had a gun in his hand, and tucked the weapon into his belt as he walked past him, Vries said.According to Vries he was “scared stiff” when he saw this and heard Booysen saying words to the effect: “If anybody touches me, I’ll shoot him”.Vries said he also heard Booysen say to two Police officers who approached him: “I only burned my clothes in that place.”According to Vries, Booysen also threatened to kill his girlfriend and then take his own life: “He said he will kill that girl, and even if they take him away he will get bail and he will come back and kill that girl and kill himself.”Namandje told Vries that Booysen would however tell the court that no discussion of a fire in Kooper’s flat took place at the stage that Vries claimed it did.According to Booysen, he and the Police officers talked about gunshots, and he told them that he had fired shots only at his own property in the flat, Namandje said.Vries initially said Booysen had made a remark about having set his clothes on fire.Pressured by Namandje under cross-examination, he changed that part of his testimony and told the Magistrate that Booysen had said he had put his belongings – which Vries said he understood to include clothing – on fire in the flat.Kooper told the court on Monday that she had tried to make Booysen jealous by telling him three days before the fire that she was breaking off their relationship and that she had a relationship with another man.She was doing that in an attempt to push him into divorcing his wife, she said.The reaction she got from Booysen were pleas not to break off their relationship, and eventually the visit to her flat that ended with the fire and Booysen’s arrest on August 9 2004.According to another witness who was at the scene on that day, Health Ministry employee Jan Hermanus van Wyk, he saw Booysen coming out of the lift of the block of flats with his gun already tucked into his belt.”You can just shoot me, man; you can just shoot me,” he said he heard the detective saying as Booysen walked past him on the way to his car.Van Wyk said he also heard Booysen saying: “I only burned what belonged to me.”Van Wyk had no comment to make when Namandje told him that Booysen would deny that he had said anything about setting goods on fire, and that he would instead tell the court that he had said he had only fired shots at his own goods.A third version of what Booysen is alleged to have said at the flats came from Chief Inspector John Ivan Amwela, who is in command of the Police’s Complaints and Discipline Unit in the Khomas Region.He testified that he was also at the scene on the day of the incident and that he spoke to Booysen by cellphone in an attempt to persuade him to come down from the seventh floor of the building, where Kooper’s flat was, after gunshots had been heard.Booysen insisted that his girlfriend should be brought up to him first, and then added that he would shoot any Police officer that approached him if she was not brought to him, Amwela said.Booysen will deny having said that, Namandje told the witness.When Booysen eventually came down to the ground floor of the building, Amwela added, he heard him saying: “Here I am, shoot me if you want to.”The trial is continuing today.Public Prosecutor Brownwell Uirab is presenting the State’s case to the court.Booysen remains free on bail.He was initially released on bail of N$10 000 on September 8 2004, but this was reduced to N$2 000 in January last year.With hospital superintendent Dr Jack Vries in the witness stand as the third prosecution witness to testify in the trial, Booysen’s defence counsel, Sisa Namandje, yesterday revealed some details of Booysen’s defence to the charges.Vries told Magistrate Christie Mostert that he had been called to the block of flats where Kooper lived on August 9 2004.In the foyer of the building, he saw Detective Inspector Booysen emerging from a lift.He had a gun in his hand, and tucked the weapon into his belt as he walked past him, Vries said.According to Vries he was “scared stiff” when he saw this and heard Booysen saying words to the effect: “If anybody touches me, I’ll shoot him”.Vries said he also heard Booysen say to two Police officers who approached him: “I only burned my clothes in that place.”According to Vries, Booysen also threatened to kill his girlfriend and then take his own life: “He said he will kill that girl, and even if they take him away he will get bail and he will come back and kill that girl and kill himself.”Namandje told Vries that Booysen would however tell the court that no discussion of a fire in Kooper’s flat took place at the stage that Vries claimed it did.According to Booysen, he and the Police officers talked about gunshots, and he told them that he had fired shots only at his own property in the flat, Namandje said.Vries initially said Booysen had made a remark about having set his clothes on fire.Pressured by Namandje under cross-examination, he changed that part of his testimony and told the Magistrate that Booysen had said he had put his belongings – which Vries said he understood to include clothing – on fire in the flat.Kooper told the court on Monday that she had tried to make Booysen jealous by telling him three days before the fire that she was breaking off their relationship and that she had a relationship with another man.She was doing that in an attempt to push him into divorcing his wife, she said.The reaction she got from Booysen were pleas not to break off their relationship, and eventually the visit to her flat that ended with the fire and Booysen’s arrest on August 9 2004.According to another witness who was at the scene on that day, Health Ministry employee Jan Hermanus van Wyk, he saw Booysen coming out of the lift of the block of flats with his gun already tucked into his belt.”You can just shoot me, man; you can just shoot me,” he said he heard the detective saying as Booysen walked past him on the way to his car.Van Wyk said he also heard Booysen saying: “I only burned what belonged to me.”Van Wyk had no comment to make when Namandje told him that Booysen would deny that he had said anything about setting goods on fire, and that he would instead tell the court that he had said he had only fired shots at his own goods.A third version of what Booysen is alleged to have said at the flats came from Chief Inspector John Ivan Amwela, who is in command of the Police’s Complaints and Discipline Unit in the Khomas Region.He testified that he was also at the scene on the day of the incident and that he spoke to Booysen by cellphone in an attempt to persuade him to come down from the seventh floor of the building, where Kooper’s flat was, after gunshots had been heard.Booysen insisted that his girlfriend should be brought up to him first, and then added that he would shoot any Police officer that approached him if she was not brought to him, Amwela said.Booysen will deny having said that, Namandje told the witness.When Booysen eventually came down to the ground floor of the building, Amwela added, he heard him saying: “Here I am, shoot me if you want to.”The trial is continuing today.Public Prosecutor Brownwell Uirab is presenting the State’s case to the court.Booysen remains free on bail.He was initially released on bail of N$10 000 on September 8 2004, but this was reduced to N$2 000 in January last year.