It wasn’t me, Bakondja Katjiuongua says

“ALL I can say is it wasn’t me.”

“No, it wasn’t me.” “What I can say is I didn’t commit these deeds.”With these remarks, serial escapee Bakondja Katjiuongua late last week flatly denied accusations that he had carried out a succession of armed robberies, kidnappings and attempted murders in March 2001, during the beginning stage of a three-month period in which he became Namibia’s most wanted man while on the run from the law following one of his escapes out of Police custody.Katjiuongua (28) finally got his turn in the witness stand during his second trial in the Windhoek Regional Court on Thursday.That was more than six years after he handed himself over to the Police following more than three months on the run, and more than two years and eight months after this trial had started before Magistrate Gert Retief in late October 2004.Katjiuongua pleaded not guilty to 17 charges – including three counts of escaping out of lawful custody, a charge of theft of a firearm, five counts of robbery with aggravating circumstances, three counts of kidnapping and two charges of attempted murder – at the start of his trial.Two co-accused – brothers James Isaacks (33) and Lawrence Isaacks (28) – who faced the robbery, kidnapping and attempted murder charges with Katjiuongua, also denied guilt.The prosecution, represented by Public Prosecutor Belinda Wantenaar, closed its case on October 28 2004 already after presenting the last of its evidence against the three charged men.Since then, the trial has remained in limbo, going through various postponements as Katjiuongua’s defence lawyer withdrew from the matter and a new lawyer had to be instructed by the Legal Aid Directorate to take over his defence.His latest lawyer, Louis Karsten, also withdrew on Thursday.Katjiuongua then pressed on unrepresented and took up position in the witness box to deny all but the escape charges against him.At the close of the case for the prosecution, he had changed his pleas on the escape charges to guilty, thereby admitting that he had escaped from Police custody on September 6 2000, again on October 21 2000, and for a third time on March 1 2001.Apart from the charges he had pleaded guilty to, “it is still my position that I’m not guilty,” he told the Magistrate in his testimony.On a question from the Magistrate, who asked him whether he thus in essence was telling the court that State witnesses had identified the wrong person when they told the court that they could identify him when he allegedly carried out the robberies, kidnappings and some of the other offences he was charged with, Katjiuongua answered that this was indeed the case.Wantenaar reminded Katjiuongua in some detail of the testimony that State witnesses had given against him.This included testimony from State witness Esra Kharigub, who told the court that on March 4 2001 he found an armed Katjiuongua appearing next to his car as he stopped at a traffic light in Windhoek.Kharigub told the court that Katjiuongua forced him out of the car, locked him in the vehicle’s boot, and then drove off with the vehicle.Another witness, who knew Katjiuongua from their school days, testified that she saw Katjiuongua drive around in Windhoek with that same vehicle the next day, Wantenaar added.Taxi driver Victor Nelulu, she continued, testified that on the evening of March 12 2001 he was robbed of his taxi at gunpoint.Nelulu’s car was found later in a street in Windhoek’s Eros residential area.That was close to a house where Eros resident Rachel Lock told the court she found herself being held at gunpoint by Katjiuongua after she had pulled her car into her garage on the evening of March 12 2001, Wantenaar added.”I say it’s not true,” Katjiuongua responded to this evidence.”I know that she didn’t see me.”When Wantenaar put it to him that Kharigub, the old school acquaintance and Lock all had told the court that they saw him, and asked whether this must mean that they were all lying, Katjiuongua replied: “For lack of a better word, yes.”Katjiuongua agreed that his mother had correctly testified that on March 3 2001 he had been at his parents’ home.On that day, a 9 mm pistol belonging to his father, former National Assembly Member Moses Katjiuongua, went missing from his parents’ home.Wantenaar further reminded Katjiuongua that the court heard evidence that shots were fired at Lock’s husband, Robert Lock, on the evening that Mrs Lock was robbed of an Isuzu bakkie and a cell phone.Spent cartridges found at the scene afterwards were matched to the pistol that belonged to Katjiuongua’s father, Wantenaar also reminded him.”All I can say is it wasn’t me,” Katjiuongua answered to this.”No, it wasn’t me,” Katjiuongua further responded about an allegation that he had stolen another vehicle in a robbery in Windhoek on March 25 2001.On further evidence, given by the former Detective Chief Inspector Nelius Becker, who told the court that he recognised Katjiuongua on March 26 2001 when he saw the latter flee at high speed from the Police in the vehicle that had been stolen during the robbery the previous day, Katjiuongua answered that he did not even know Becker until the day that he was arrested.”What I can say is I didn’t commit these deeds,” he said.In fact, when these things were happening in Windhoek, he was far away from the city, at Otjinene, he said.Witnesses who can tell the court about this may be called by Katjiuongua to testify in his defence when the case returns to court on July 26.With no evidence before the court to directly implicate the Isaacks brothers, Magistrate Retief acquitted both of them last week.Katjiuongua remains in custody.He is now serving an effective four-year prison term that he received on a host of fraud charges in his other Windhoek Regional Court trial in early May last year.He had been in custody on those charges when he staged his string of escapes and the charges against him started snowballing.”What I can say is I didn’t commit these deeds.”With these remarks, serial escapee Bakondja Katjiuongua late last week flatly denied accusations that he had carried out a succession of armed robberies, kidnappings and attempted murders in March 2001, during the beginning stage of a three-month period in which he became Namibia’s most wanted man while on the run from the law following one of his escapes out of Police custody.Katjiuongua (28) finally got his turn in the witness stand during his second trial in the Windhoek Regional Court on Thursday.That was more than six years after he handed himself over to the Police following more than three months on the run, and more than two years and eight months after this trial had started before Magistrate Gert Retief in late October 2004.Katjiuongua pleaded not guilty to 17 charges – including three counts of escaping out of lawful custody, a charge of theft of a firearm, five counts of robbery with aggravating circumstances, three counts of kidnapping and two charges of attempted murder – at the start of his trial.Two co-accused – brothers James Isaacks (33) and Lawrence Isaacks (28) – who faced the robbery, kidnapping and attempted murder charges with Katjiuongua, also denied guilt.The prosecution, represented by Public Prosecutor Belinda Wantenaar, closed its case on October 28 2004 already after presenting the last of its evidence against the three charged men.Since then, the trial has remained in limbo, going through various postponements as Katjiuongua’s defence lawyer withdrew from the matter and a new lawyer had to be instructed by the Legal Aid Directorate to take over his defence.His latest lawyer, Louis Karsten, also withdrew on Thursday.Katjiuongua then pressed on unrepresented and took up position in the witness box to deny all but the escape charges against him.At the close of the case for the prosecution, he had changed his pleas on the escape charges to guilty, thereby admitting that he had escaped from Police custody on September 6 2000, again on October 21 2000, and for a third time on March 1 2001.Apart from the charges he had pleaded guilty to, “it is still my position that I’m not guilty,” he told the Magistrate in his testimony.On a question from the Magistrate, who asked him whether he thus in essence was telling the court that State witnesses had identified the wrong person when they told the court that they could identify him when he allegedly carried out the robberies, kidnappings and some of the other offences he was charged with, Katjiuongua answered that this was indeed the case.Wantenaar reminded Katjiuongua in some detail of the testimony that State witnesses had given against him.This included testimony from State witness Esra Kharigub, who told the court that on March 4 2001 he found an armed Katjiuongua appearing next to his car as he stopped at a traffic light in Windhoek.Kharigub told the court that Katjiuongua forced him out of the car, locked him in the vehicle’s boot, and then drove off with the vehicle.Another witness, who knew Katjiuongua from their school days, testified that she saw Katjiuongua drive around in Windhoek with that same vehicle the next day, Wantenaar added.Taxi driver Victor Nelulu, she continued, testified that on the evening of March 12 2001 he was robbed of his taxi at gunpoint.Nelulu’s car was found later in a street in Windhoek’s Eros residential area.That was close to a house where Eros resident Rachel Lock told the court she found herself being held at gunpoint by Katjiuongua after she had pulled her car into her garage on the evening of March 12 2001, Wantenaar added.”I say it’s not true,” Katjiuongua responded to this evidence.”I know that she didn’t see me.”When Wantenaar put it to him that Kharigub, the old school acquaintance and Lock all had told the court that they saw him, and asked whether this must mean that they were all lying, Katjiuongua replied: “For lack of a better word, yes.”Katjiuongua agreed that his mother had correctly testified that on March 3 2001 he had been at his parents’ home.On that day, a 9 mm pistol belonging to his father, former National Assembly Member Moses Katjiuongua, went missing from his parents’ home.Wantenaar further reminded Katjiuongua that the court heard evidence that shots were fired at Lock’s husband, Robert Lock, on the evening that Mrs Lock was robbed of an Isuzu bakkie and a cell phone.Spent cartridges found at the scene afterwards were matched to the pistol that belonged to Katjiuongua’s father, Wantenaar also reminded him.”All I can say is it wasn’t me,” Katjiuongua answered to this.”No, it wasn’t me,” Katjiuongua further responded about an allegation that he had stolen another vehicle in a robbery in Windhoek on March 25 2001.On further evidence, given by the former Detective Chief Inspector Nelius Becker, who told the court that he recognised Katjiuongua on March 26 2001 when he saw the latter flee at high speed from the Police in the vehicle that had been stolen during the robbery the previous day, Katjiuongua answered that he did not even know Becker until the day that he was arrested.”What I can say is I didn’t commit these deeds,” he said.In fact, when these things were happening in Windhoek, he was far away from the city, at Otjinene, he said.Witnesses who can tell the court about this may be called by Katjiuongua to testify in his defence when the case returns to court on July 26.With no evidence before the court to directly implicate the Isaacks brothers, Magistrate Retief acquitted both of them last week.Katjiuongua remains in custody.He is now serving an effective four-year prison term that he received on a host of fraud charges in his other Windhoek Regional Court trial in early May last year.He had been in custody on those charges when he staged his string of escapes and the charges against him started snowballing.