Stabbing suspect back in dock after vanishing

ALLEGED murderer Johannes Amunyela made his first return visit since the end of January to the High Court in Windhoek yesterday – exactly four months after his sudden disappearance scuttled the scheduled start of his trial on a charge that he had murdered his girlfriend in a knife attack in mid-2004.

The 36-year-old Amunyela made his last appearance in the High Court before Judge President Petrus Damaseb on January 30. His trial was scheduled to start that day, but ended up being postponed to the next day after the lawyer who had been set to represent Amunyela withdrew and Amunyela got the services of a new defence counsel.On January 31, however, the dock remained empty when the trial was again scheduled to start.Amunyela, who had been free on a warning, had disappeared after the court adjourned the previous afternoon to give his new lawyer time to prepare for the trial.Yesterday, Amunyela was back in the dock again.According to a case record from the Ondangwa Magistrate’s Court, he was arrested on April 18 and appeared in the Ondangwa Magistrate’s Court the next day to have his case transferred back to the High Court again.Amunyela himself however told Judge Sylvester Mainga yesterday that he was arrested at Oshikango on April 19.He told the court that after he had seen his lawyer, Titus Ipumbu, on the day of his last court appearance, he realised that he did not have enough money to pay the lawyer.He then took a bus to Oshikango with the aim of looking up someone who owed him money, but had up to now not managed to find that person, Amunyela said.In the meantime, he just stayed away from court.”My intention was not to run away, but my intention was just to gather enough money,” Amunyela said.”I was just in a state of confusion, a dilemma.What could I do?” He said that before he decided to get Ipumbu to represent him, a previous lawyer who had been instructed by the Directorate of Legal Aid to represent him had “tried to force me to accept guilt”.That lawyer, Amunyela claimed, also told him that if he wasted the court’s time he could end up being sentenced to 30 to 40 years’ imprisonment.Judge Mainga told Amunyela his explanation was not acceptable.He convicted Amunyela in terms of the Criminal Procedure Act for failing to appear in court while free on a warning, and sentenced him to three months’ imprisonment.Amunyela now has to make another pre-trial appearance in the High Court on June 14.He must also remain in custody until his trial is finalised, Judge Mainga added.Amunyela was first arrested on July 22 2004 – the same day his girlfriend, Aina Niita Shiimi (26) died at Olukango, a village in the Ondangwa district, from a multitude of stab wounds.By mid-December 2004, Amunyela was granted bail of N$3 000.Amunyela is accused of stabbing her 23 times with a knife.In a pre-trial statement setting out the plea Amunyela intends to tender, the High Court was told that he would plead not guilty, although he does not deny causing the death of Shiimi.Amunyela denies inflicting the 23 stab wounds.He however remembers inflicting five or six stab wounds, but was “overcome with emotions” at that stage, after Shiimi had first attacked him with a knife, it has been related to the court.Amunyela did not intend to kill Shiimi, and only attacked her in retaliation after she attacked him, it was claimed.The court was told that relations between Amunyela and Shiimi, who was his girlfriend and the mother of his child, had soured after he “discovered to his utter dismay some traditional medicine” between her legs and on their bed when they were about to retire for the night the previous evening.They were on their way to Shiimi’s family the next day when a quarrel broke out between them and the deadly stabbing took place, according to Amunyela’s pre-trial statement.His trial was scheduled to start that day, but ended up being postponed to the next day after the lawyer who had been set to represent Amunyela withdrew and Amunyela got the services of a new defence counsel.On January 31, however, the dock remained empty when the trial was again scheduled to start.Amunyela, who had been free on a warning, had disappeared after the court adjourned the previous afternoon to give his new lawyer time to prepare for the trial.Yesterday, Amunyela was back in the dock again.According to a case record from the Ondangwa Magistrate’s Court, he was arrested on April 18 and appeared in the Ondangwa Magistrate’s Court the next day to have his case transferred back to the High Court again.Amunyela himself however told Judge Sylvester Mainga yesterday that he was arrested at Oshikango on April 19.He told the court that after he had seen his lawyer, Titus Ipumbu, on the day of his last court appearance, he realised that he did not have enough money to pay the lawyer.He then took a bus to Oshikango with the aim of looking up someone who owed him money, but had up to now not managed to find that person, Amunyela said.In the meantime, he just stayed away from court.”My intention was not to run away, but my intention was just to gather enough money,” Amunyela said.”I was just in a state of confusion, a dilemma.What could I do?” He said that before he decided to get Ipumbu to represent him, a previous lawyer who had been instructed by the Directorate of Legal Aid to represent him had “tried to force me to accept guilt”.That lawyer, Amunyela claimed, also told him that if he wasted the court’s time he could end up being sentenced to 30 to 40 years’ imprisonment.Judge Mainga told Amunyela his explanation was not acceptable.He convicted Amunyela in terms of the Criminal Procedure Act for failing to appear in court while free on a warning, and sentenced him to three months’ imprisonment.Amunyela now has to make another pre-trial appearance in the High Court on June 14.He must also remain in custody until his trial is finalised, Judge Mainga added.Amunyela was first arrested on July 22 2004 – the same day his girlfriend, Aina Niita Shiimi (26) died at Olukango, a village in the Ondangwa district, from a multitude of stab wounds.By mid-December 2004, Amunyela was granted bail of N$3 000.Amunyela is accused of stabbing her 23 times with a knife.In a pre-trial statement setting out the plea Amunyela intends to tender, the High Court was told that he would plead not guilty, although he does not deny causing the death of Shiimi.Amunyela denies inflicting the 23 stab wounds.He however remembers inflicting five or six stab wounds, but was “overcome with emotions” at that stage, after Shiimi had first attacked him with a knife, it has been related to the court.Amunyela did not intend to kill Shiimi, and only attacked her in retaliation after she attacked him, it was claimed.The court was told that relations between Amunyela and Shiimi, who was his girlfriend and the mother of his child, had soured after he “discovered to his utter dismay some traditional medicine” between her legs and on their bed when they were about to retire for the night the previous evening.They were on their way to Shiimi’s family the next day when a quarrel broke out between them and the deadly stabbing took place, according to Amunyela’s pre-trial statement.