No bail for Maasdorp in city murder case

A Windhoek resident accused of murdering a staff member of the Namibia University of Science and Technology in April last year has failed with an attempt to persuade a magistrate to grant him bail.

Magistrate Monica Andjaba dismissed murder accused Wentzel Maasdorp’s application to be granted bail in the Windhoek Magistrate’s Court on Friday.

The magistrate concluded that Maasdorp failed to show he would not be a flight risk if released on bail and that his release would be in the public interest.

Andjaba also noted that Maasdorp (40) is facing serious charges which could result in sentences of imprisonment if he is convicted.

Maasdorp is charged with counts of murder, theft of a motor vehicle and theft of a television and cellphone in connection with a fatal incident that took place at the flat of Namibia University of Science and Technology employee Delia Weimers-Maasdorp (40) in the Klein Windhoek area of Windhoek during the evening of 25 April last year.

Weimers-Maasdorp was found dead in her flat on 28 April last year. Her body was found wrapped in a blanket, which had rope tied around it.

Maasdorp was arrested in Windhoek on 30 April.

During his bail hearing last month, Maasdorp testified that he and Weimers-Maasdorp were involved in an argument at her flat during the evening of 25 April last year, and that he experienced “a trance or blackout” after she had thrown the contents of a glass of vodka in his face and slapped him.

When he came to his senses, he found Weimers-Maasdorp lying on the floor, he said.

Maasdorp added that he did not know if she had fainted and he did not check her pulse before he left the scene in a state of shock.

In a statement he made to a magistrate in Windhoek after his arrest, though, Maasdorp said there was a fight between him and Weimers-Maasdorp, with whom he had been involved in a romantic relationship previously, at her home on the night of the fatal incident.

He told the magistrate that Weimers-Maasdorp “slapped me a few times and that was when I lost my cool and started strangling her”.

Maasdorp also said: “It was never my intention to cause her any harm, but when I came to my senses it was too late.”

A police detective testified during the bail hearing that after the incident, Maasdorp left Weimers-Maasdorp’s flat with her car and drove to Mariental, before he returned to Windhoek and to the flat, where he then wrapped her body in a blanket and stole a television and cellphone.

Maasdorp sold the television for cash and also in exchange for some cocaine before he drove to Katima Mulilo with Weimers-Maasdorp’s car and then drove to Rundu, where the car was abandoned, the police officer also told the court.

Andjaba noted in her ruling that Maasdorp gave different versions of the incident in his testimony in court and in the statement he made to a magistrate after his arrest.

If the version he gave in his testimony is true, it shows that Maasdorp could at the slightest provocation become violent and dangerous, and he could pose a danger to society if released on bail, Andjaba remarked.

Maasdorp is due to appear in court again on 12 March.