Matricide suspect gets trial date in June 2010

MURDER suspect Natangwe Ipinge Ngatjizeko, who is accused of killing his mother in a knife attack in Windhoek near the end of 2006, heard in the High Court in Windhoek last week that his trial is set to take place only in June next year.

The dates allocated for Ngatjizeko’s trial are June 1 to 11 2010, Deputy Prosecutor General Antonia Verhoef informed Judge President Petrus Damaseb when Ngatjizeko made what should be a final pre-trial appearance in the High Court on Thursday.Ngatjizeko (30) is set to be kept in custody until the start of the trial. He has been in custody since his arrest on December 18 2006. He is charged with counts of murder and robbery with aggravating circumstances. In the indictment that Ngatjizeko is facing, it is alleged that he travelled from Walvis Bay to Windhoek on December 17 2006 with the intention of killing his mother, Phenny Ipinge (58), who was a former personal assistant of Namibia’s former First Lady, Kovambo Nujoma. It is alleged that later on December 17 2006, Ngatjizeko attacked his mother in her house in Shandumbala in Katutura. The prosecution is charging that Ngatjizeko poured boiling water over his mother, stabbed her several times with at least two knives, and finally left the scene of the killing with N$20 that he had stolen from her. In a pre-trial document that has been filed with the High Court and that sets out his intended plea at his trial, Ngatjizeko has indicated that he plans to plead guilty to the murder charge, while he will be denying the count of robbery with aggravating circumstances. Ngatjizeko was referred to undergo a period of psychiatric observation at the request of his defence lawyer, Tabitha Mbome, in November last year. The psychiatric observation finally took place during May. Ngatjizeko was found fit to stand trial, but in the opinion of a State psychiatrist he had a diminished capability to understand the wrongfulness of his alleged actions and to act in accordance with such an understanding at the time of the incident.