Key child murder trial ruling set for Friday

A RULING that is expected to be a key point in the trial of child rape and murder suspect Lesley Kukame again had to be postponed in the High Court in Windhoek last week, and is now scheduled to be delivered on Friday this week.

Judge Kato van Niekerk was first set to give her ruling in a trial within a trial on the admissibility of alleged confessions and admissions that former security guard Kukame (27) is claimed to have made after his arrest on December 3, but deferred this to Thursday last week because she was still finalising her judgement. By the last days of last week, though, Judge Van Niekerk had fallen ill and could not hand down her ruling either, and Friday this week was set as the new date.Kukame pleaded not guilty to charges of murder, rape and abduction, alternatively kidnapping, when his trial started in the last week of September.He is accused of having abducted a three-and-a-half-year-old girl, ‘M’, from the house where she was living in Independence Avenue in Katutura between February 7 and 10 2005.In the same space of time, it is alleged, Kukame took the girl to the Katutura Cinema Hall near her home.There he allegedly raped her and killed her through strangulation or suffocation.Her body was found in a service room next to the cinema hall on February 10 2005.Kukame had been stationed as a daytime security guard at the cinema hall during the days that ‘M’ had been missing.Kukame was arrested on the evening of the day that the girl’s body had been found.After being interrogated by the Police, it is alleged that over the course of about two days he made various admissions and confessions to Police officers and also a former senior detective who had put him through a lie detector test.Kukame is trying to prevent those statements from being admitted as evidence in his trial.His defence lawyer, Ivo dos Santos, has told the Judge that the statements in question were not made freely and voluntarily, were made under undue influence, and that Kukame’s constitutional rights – specifically the right to consult a lawyer before he made the statements – had been violated.State advocate Dominic Lisulo, who is representing the State in the trial, has argued that it has been shown that Kukame indeed made the statements freely and voluntarily, and that he waived his right to legal representation before he made the statements.Lisulo has asked that the statements should be admitted as evidence in the trial.Kukame has remained in custody since his arrest.By the last days of last week, though, Judge Van Niekerk had fallen ill and could not hand down her ruling either, and Friday this week was set as the new date.Kukame pleaded not guilty to charges of murder, rape and abduction, alternatively kidnapping, when his trial started in the last week of September.He is accused of having abducted a three-and-a-half-year-old girl, ‘M’, from the house where she was living in Independence Avenue in Katutura between February 7 and 10 2005.In the same space of time, it is alleged, Kukame took the girl to the Katutura Cinema Hall near her home.There he allegedly raped her and killed her through strangulation or suffocation.Her body was found in a service room next to the cinema hall on February 10 2005.Kukame had been stationed as a daytime security guard at the cinema hall during the days that ‘M’ had been missing.Kukame was arrested on the evening of the day that the girl’s body had been found.After being interrogated by the Police, it is alleged that over the course of about two days he made various admissions and confessions to Police officers and also a former senior detective who had put him through a lie detector test.Kukame is trying to prevent those statements from being admitted as evidence in his trial.His defence lawyer, Ivo dos Santos, has told the Judge that the statements in question were not made freely and voluntarily, were made under undue influence, and that Kukame’s constitutional rights – specifically the right to consult a lawyer before he made the statements – had been violated.State advocate Dominic Lisulo, who is representing the State in the trial, has argued that it has been shown that Kukame indeed made the statements freely and voluntarily, and that he waived his right to legal representation before he made the statements.Lisulo has asked that the statements should be admitted as evidence in the trial.Kukame has remained in custody since his arrest.