No bail for murder, stock theft accused

A man accused of murdering a stock theft investigator in the Omaheke region more than 11 years ago has failed with his latest attempt to be released on bail.

Stockley Kauejao’s application to have his bail reinstated was turned down by acting judge Alfred Siboleka in the High Court at Windhoek Correctional Facility on Tuesday.

In his bail judgement, Siboleka said the grounds on which Kauejao (50) applied for the reinstatement of his bail are not new factors that can be accepted by the court.

If the concerns that Kauejao raised in support of his application were to be accepted as new factors and allowed to stand while he is facing serious allegations in his trial, the justice system could easily be made dysfunctional, Siboleka said.

It would be a hostile step against the smooth turning of the wheels of justice to reinstate Kauejao’s bail, the judge said.

Kauejao and three co-accused are charged with stealing 15 head of cattle in the Gobabis district during December 2012.

Kauejao and two of his co-accused, Matheu Kakururume and Muvare Kaporo, are also facing a count of murder, with the state alleging they agreed to kill a stock theft investigator, Wilfred Kazeurua (55), after he had been asked to investigate the theft of the 15 head of cattle.

The state is alleging that Kakururume and Muvare murdered Kazeurua by strangling and suffocating him at the farm Brazil in the Gobabis district on 28 December 2012.

All four of the accused are further charged with defeating or obstructing the course of justice, after they allegedly burned Kazeurua’s motor vehicle, buried his body, hid the stolen cattle and burned the cattle’s ear tags in an attempt to hinder the investigation of the stock theft and the killing of Kazeurua.

The four men’s trial started before Siboleka in September 2015, when all four accused denied guilt on all charges.

Siboleka recounted in his judgement that Kauejao, who was arrested in January 2013, was granted bail in July 2016.

After the prosecution concluded its case in his trial in July 2018, Kauejao at first decided to apply for Siboleka’s recusal, and then two defence lawyers representing him withdrew because they had not been paid for their services, the judge recounted.

This resulted in long postponements in the trial, and after that Siboleka decided to cancel Kauejao’s bail and have him placed back in custody in October 2021.

Since then, the trial has been progressing well again, with Kauejao having testified in his own defence and his co-accused in the process of presenting their defence cases to the court, Siboleka said.

Kauejao’s concerns that the cancellation of his bail has affected his children, with his one son dropping out of university because he could not afford to pay his tuition fees and another son’s school performance deteriorating drastically, are issues someone in jail and his family members are normally expected to endure, the judge said.

The trial is scheduled to continue from 27 May.

Kauejao is currently being represented by defence lawyer Salomon Kanyemba.