Murder suspect freed after Police bungle

A COCK-UP at the Windhoek Police Station saw a suspect who was supposed to remain in custody on murder and robbery charges released on bail of N$200 last week.

When the trial of Smallboy Hindjou was supposed to continue in the Windhoek Regional Court on Thursday, the dock before Magistrate Christie Mostert stayed empty and it was realised that Hindjou had been released from custody by mistake earlier in the week. On Friday, the Station Commander of the Windhoek Police Station, Chief Inspector Peter Oelofse, appeared before Magistrate Mostert in the witness stand after he had been summoned to court to explain how Hindjou managed to get released.Hindjou was arrested on December 22 2004 in connection with the killing of Windhoek resident Paul Figaji in the city in the early morning hours of that day.The 35-year-old Figaji, who was a disc jockey at a radio station in the city, Radio Wave, died from a stab wound to his neck at the scene where he had been attacked near Wika Service Station in the capital’s Mandume Ndemufayo Avenue.ATTACK He was attacked while he and a friend were walking home after a night out.It is alleged that Hindjou, then 18 years old, was the attacker, and that he had fled from the scene after stealing a cellphone and N$70 from Figaji following the stabbing.After his arrest Hindjou was kept in custody until Magistrate Peter Kavaongelwa granted him bail in an unusually low amount of N$400 on April 18 2005.On September 3 this year Hindjou’s trial started before Magistrate Mostert with Hindjou pleading not guilty to charges of murder and robbery with aggravating circumstances.On the same day, after he had been informed that State witnesses were claiming that Hindjou had been threatening that he would kill them, Magistrate Mostert withdrew Hindjou’s bail and ordered that he should remain in custody until his trial had been finalised.On Monday last week, though, Chief Inspector Oelofse told the Magistrate on Friday, Hindjou was released from custody after he had paid bail of N$200 in another case in which he is facing charges of attempted theft and assault with intent to do grievous bodily harm.Oelofse said the practice at the Windhoek Police Station is that warrants of detention are kept in a file which should be checked to see if bail has been granted to a detained suspect before the suspect is allowed to pay bail and is released.’BLUNDER’ In Hindjou’s case, Oelofse said, it appears that a Constable who helped complete the paperwork for Hindjou’s release on bail did not check the file with detention warrants properly to see that he in fact had to remain in custody on the murder and robbery charges.”In this instance it seems to me it is a human error,” Oelofse said.”Or an administrative blunder,” the Magistrate remarked.”Correct,” Oelofse answered.A warrant for Hindjou’s arrest remains in force.The first witness to have testified in the trial three weeks ago, Marius Mostert, told the Magistrate that he and Figaji had been playing pool somewhere in the city on the evening before the stabbing.Shortly after midnight they decided to go home, and on the way Figaji withdrew N$100 from an ATM at a bank in the Ausspannplatz area, he related.Mostert said a woman approached them and asked if they would buy her a beer.They agreed and walked with her to Wika Service Station a few hundred metres away.On the way, another woman called the woman who had asked them for the beer.Hindjou was with that other woman, Mostert said.After they had bought the beer, he, Figaji and the first woman were walking away from the service station when he heard Figaji call out that he had been stabbed.When he turned around, he saw Hindjou running away, Mostert said.He chased Hindjou, but the latter ran behind the service station and disappeared in the dark, Mostert said.Figaji died on the scene.The only thing Hindjou knows about the incident, his lawyer, Sarel Maritz, has told Mostert, is that when he came out of the service station he saw people running.Public Prosecutor Brownwell Uirab is conducting the prosecution.On Friday, the Station Commander of the Windhoek Police Station, Chief Inspector Peter Oelofse, appeared before Magistrate Mostert in the witness stand after he had been summoned to court to explain how Hindjou managed to get released.Hindjou was arrested on December 22 2004 in connection with the killing of Windhoek resident Paul Figaji in the city in the early morning hours of that day.The 35-year-old Figaji, who was a disc jockey at a radio station in the city, Radio Wave, died from a stab wound to his neck at the scene where he had been attacked near Wika Service Station in the capital’s Mandume Ndemufayo Avenue.ATTACK He was attacked while he and a friend were walking home after a night out.It is alleged that Hindjou, then 18 years old, was the attacker, and that he had fled from the scene after stealing a cellphone and N$70 from Figaji following the stabbing.After his arrest Hindjou was kept in custody until Magistrate Peter Kavaongelwa granted him bail in an unusually low amount of N$400 on April 18 2005.On September 3 this year Hindjou’s trial started before Magistrate Mostert with Hindjou pleading not guilty to charges of murder and robbery with aggravating circumstances.On the same day, after he had been informed that State witnesses were claiming that Hindjou had been threatening that he would kill them, Magistrate Mostert withdrew Hindjou’s bail and ordered that he should remain in custody until his trial had been finalised.On Monday last week, though, Chief Inspector Oelofse told the Magistrate on Friday, Hindjou was released from custody after he had paid bail of N$200 in another case in which he is facing charges of attempted theft and assault with intent to do grievous bodily harm.Oelofse said the practice at the Windhoek Police Station is that warrants of detention are kept in a file which should be checked to see if bail has been granted to a detained suspect before the suspect is allowed to pay bail and is released.’BLUNDER’ In Hindjou’s case, Oelofse said, it appears that a Constable who helped complete the paperwork for Hindjou’s release on bail did not check the file with detention warrants properly to see that he in fact had to remain in custody on the murder and robbery charges.”In this instance it seems to me it is a human error,” Oelofse said.”Or an administrative blunder,” the Magistrate remarked.”Correct,” Oelofse answered.A warrant for Hindjou’s arrest remains in force.The first witness to have testified in the trial three weeks ago, Marius Mostert, told the Magistrate that he and Figaji had been playing pool somewhere in the city on the evening before the stabbing.Shortly after midnight they decided to go home, and on the way Figaji withdrew N$100 from an ATM at a bank in the Ausspannplatz area, he related.Mostert said a woman approached them and asked if they would buy her a beer.They agreed and walked with her to Wika Service Station a few hundred metres away.On the way, another woman called the woman who had asked them for the beer.Hindjou was with that other woman, Mostert said.After they had bought the beer, he, Figaji and the first woman were walking away from the service station when he heard Figaji call out that he had been stabbed.When he turned around, he saw Hindjou running away, Mostert said.He chased Hindjou, but the latter ran behind the service station and disappeared in the dark, Mostert said.Figaji died on the scene.The only thing Hindjou knows about the incident, his lawyer, Sarel Maritz, has told Mostert, is that when he came out of the service station he saw people running.Public Prosecutor Brownwell Uirab is conducting the prosecution.