Murder accused admitted assault on girl aged nine

A man accused of murdering a girl (9) in Windhoek in January 2020 told a police officer he assaulted the girl by slapping and kicking her.

This is according to a statement that Edward Nkata (43) made to a police officer, Ndilyowike Josef, on 3 February 2020.

Josef testified about the statement during Nkata’s trial before judge Philanda Christiaan in the Windhoek High Court on Tuesday.

Christiaan ruled in June last year that the prosecution may use the statement recorded by Josef as evidence in the trial in which Nkata, his wife, Caroline Nkata (42), and a fellow Zimbabwean citizen, Rachael Kureva (43), are charged.

The three accused are standing trial in connection with the death of Kureva’s daughter Akundaishe Natalie Chipomho (9).

The state is alleging that Akundaishe was murdered in Windhoek during the period of 23 to 25 January 2020, and that her body was placed in a rubbish skip in the Rhino Park area of Windhoek North and set on fire in an attempt to hinder a police investigation into her death.

It is alleged that Akundaishe died after she had been assaulted at the flat in the Rhino Park area where she lived with her mother, the Nkata couple and their children.

A medical doctor who carried out an autopsy on her body has told the court that Akundaishe died due to head injuries.

The three accused denied guilt on all of the charges they are facing – including a count of murder, two counts of attempted murder and a charge of defeating or obstructing the course of justice – when their trial began in June 2024.

In the statement that Edward Nkata made to Josef, he related that he got angry with Akundaishe after he questioned her about her behaviour on 23 January 2020. Akundaishe’s mother was at work at that stage, Nkata said.

He told Josef: “I got angry and I eventually slapped her. I also wanted to kick her on her back but she ducked down and instead of kicking her on the back as I intended, I accidentally kicked her at the back of her head.”

Nkata related: “Due to the force applied, she hit on the floor with her forehead and I thereafter observed that she got swollen. She fell down.

“I then poured water on her that my wife brought for me and I was also administering the first aid, but she was not responding. She was, however, breathing.”

Nkata said he later took Akundaishe to the garage of their flat, which was used as a bedroom, where he washed her in an attempt to resuscitate her. She remained unconscious, though, he said.

He left Akundaishe on a mattress in the garage and checked in on her from time to time, but there was no improvement in her condition, Nkata said.

He discovered the next morning that she was not breathing.

After Akundaishe’s mother had left the flat to go to work, he decided to dispose of the girl’s body, Nkata recounted.

He said he thought of burning the body in a rubbish skip, and he and his wife then went to buy paraffin, matches and fire lighters.

“I wanted to burn the body so that no one can trace it back to me,” Nkata said.

He placed the body in a wheelie bin that evening and took it to a nearby rubbish skip, with his wife accompanying him, Nkata said.

He added that he and his wife later returned to the rubbish skip where he had left the body, and he then set the body on fire.

“It was never my intention to kill Akundaishe but this was a mistake that I did,” Nkata said.

The trial is continuing.

The three accused are being held in custody.

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