Police murder case delayed

NINE members of the Police’s Serious Crime Unit and Special Branch at Keetmanshoop who have been charged with murder made a second appearance in the town’s Magistrate’s Court on Friday.

The nine officers, who appeared before Magistrate Iileni Gebhardt, were not asked to plead. The accused are Cyroll Serogwe, Daniel Nicodemus, Marthinus Pun-ye, Johannes Mushelenga, Heidi Dean, Niklaas !Hoeseb, Fabian Rikambura and unit commanders Johannes Otto and Lazarus !Nowaseb.Public Prosecutor Stefan Coetzee asked the Magistrate to postpone the murder case until July 7 for further investigation.Coetzee said the murder docket was still with the Police.The postponement would also give Rikambura time to obtain legal representation.The nine accused allegedly beat to death a suspect, Makarius IIkali, while they were interrogating him at the end of February.IIkali was one of five men arrested on charges of theft and housebreaking for allegedly stealing vault keys belonging to the local Standard Bank Branch.After IIkali’s death, the charges against the other theft suspects were dropped.Another of the suspects, Benjamin Basson, jumped from the first floor of the Police station during interrogation, but survived the fall.The accused are Cyroll Serogwe, Daniel Nicodemus, Marthinus Pun-ye, Johannes Mushelenga, Heidi Dean, Niklaas !Hoeseb, Fabian Rikambura and unit commanders Johannes Otto and Lazarus !Nowaseb.Public Prosecutor Stefan Coetzee asked the Magistrate to postpone the murder case until July 7 for further investigation.Coetzee said the murder docket was still with the Police.The postponement would also give Rikambura time to obtain legal representation.The nine accused allegedly beat to death a suspect, Makarius IIkali, while they were interrogating him at the end of February.IIkali was one of five men arrested on charges of theft and housebreaking for allegedly stealing vault keys belonging to the local Standard Bank Branch.After IIkali’s death, the charges against the other theft suspects were dropped.Another of the suspects, Benjamin Basson, jumped from the first floor of the Police station during interrogation, but survived the fall.