Kleine Kuppe trial delayed again

A FURTHER wait – of close to a year – for the start of their repeatedly delayed trial is in store for the two men charged with the execution-style murder of three people in Windhoek’s Kleine Kuppe residential area in 2004.

Paulus Aaron Willibard (29) and Joseph Hangome (34) face eight charges in connection with the triple slaying at the home of married couple Mario and Magda de Sousa on the evening of February 27 2004. Their trial was set to start in the High Court in Windhoek yesterday, but was again postponed – this time to June 14-July 9 2010.Mario de Sousa (46), Magda de Sousa (43), and a guest visiting them at their Kleine Kuppe house, Tiaan du Plessis (‘Koos’) Stoop (40), were all shot dead when at least two intruders got into the De Sousas’ yard. Another guest, the then 20-year-old Anja Britz, was the only person to survive the killings.Having shot both Mario and Magda de Sousa in the head and Stoop in the neck, the killers fled with a handbag of Mrs De Sousa and two cellphones belonging to her and her husband.With the appearance of the two charged men before Judge Nate Ndauendapo yesterday, State advocate Belinda Wantenaar told the Judge that the period that had been allocated for the trial – from yesterday until the end of next week – would not be enough to finalise the matter. She also said that some of the prosecution’s witnesses could not yet be traced. They have apparently returned to the Democratic Republic of the Congo.As a result, Wantenaar asked for the postponement to June 14 next year.Willibard and Hangome are both in custody. Although Hangome was granted bail of N$10 000 in November 2006, when the case was still going through an eventual 22 postponements in the Windhoek Magistrate’s Court, and his bail was reduced to N$7 000 in June 2007, the bail has never been paid.Willibard was a suspect for three and a half years before charges against him were withdrawn in September 2007. By July last year, however, he was back in the dock after the Prosecutor General decided to review the decision to withdraw the charges against him and instead opted to put him on trial with Hangome.After hearing that the case would be postponed until June next year, defence lawyer Winnie Christians, who is representing Hangome, asked Judge Ndauendapo whether Hangome’s bail could be reduced, as he could not afford to pay the N$7 000.Wantenaar said that the State objected to lowering the bail amount. The two men face very serious charges, and it was unfortunate that Hangome had been granted bail in the first place, she said.A formal bail hearing will now have to take place if Hangome still wants to have his bail amount reduced or if Willibard also wants to be granted bail.Hangome and Willibard, who is represented by Bradley Basson, are charged with three counts of murder, a count of robbery with aggravating circumstances, two charges of illegal possession of a firearm and two counts of illegal possession of ammunition.