Robbery shootout trial delayed again

THE withdrawal of a defence lawyer has forced a further delay for the start of the trial of five men accused of involvement in a deadly armed robbery in Windhoek in April 2009.

The trial of the five men was due to begin in the Windhoek Regional Court on Monday last week. It has now been postponed to March next year.At the start of last week the case was first postponed to Tuesday, and then to Friday, after defence lawyer Hipura Ujaha informed Magistrate Claudia Claasen that he would have to withdraw from the matter because of a conflict of interest between the two accused men he was supposed to represent in the trial.The magistrate was not at all pleased with Ujaha’s announcement, telling him that the court had to express ‘its utter dissatisfaction’ about his withdrawal from the case at such a late stage. However, the court had no choice but to accept his withdrawal, she added.On Friday, the court was told that the Directorate of Legal Aid has instructed two other defence lawyers to represent Ujaha’s two former clients, Titus Shooya and Nande Valombola.Shooya will now be represented by Tomas Nekongo, while Titus Ipumbu will be representing Valombola.Also on Friday, the five charged men heard that their trial on charges of robbery with aggravating circumstances, attempted murder, and illegal possession of firearms, is now scheduled to start in the Windhoek Regional Court only on March 25 next year.Shooya, Valombola, Lisia Amwaama, Jerobeam Johannes and Christian (‘Killi’) Edward are accused of having been involved in an armed robbery at a bar and gambling house in Windhoek’s Ausspannplatz area on April 2 2009.It is alleged that robbers stole N$20 000 from the bar.Police officers were on the scene before the robbers could make a getaway, though. A deadly exchange of gunfire followed.By the time the gunfight was over, two of the alleged robbers had been shot dead. Another two were wounded.Tuhafeni Kakololo (39), who had a previous conviction for armed robbery, and David Ndume (25) were killed in the shootout. Jerobeam Johannes and Christian Edward were wounded. They spent close to three weeks in hospital before they could make a first court appearance in connection with the robbery.The five men all denied guilt on the charges when they gave a plea in the Windhoek Magistrate’s Court in December 2010.The men’s trial was also supposed to start in the Regional Court near the end of November last year, when the withdrawal of Edward’s defence lawyer delayed the trial until this year.They are still being kept in custody.