The state is to consider pleas offered by two men accused of brutally murdering a transgender woman in Windhoek two years ago.
The state and defence lawyers representing murder accused Elias Nandomba (20) and Mervin Beukes (21) are still sorting out the possibility of guilty pleas to be offered by the two accused, deputy prosecutor general Antonia Verhoef informed judge Philanda Christiaan during a pretrial appearance by Nandomba and Beukes in the Windhoek High Court on Tuesday.
Nandomba and Beukes are charged with counts of murder, rape, violating a dead human body and defeating or obstructing the course of justice.
All the charges are linked to the killing of Christof Frederik (30), who was a transgender woman, in the Otjomuise area of Windhoek on 2 May 2024.
The state is alleging that Frederik was killed when she was stabbed at least 61 times with knives, after Nandomba and Beukes had encountered her in an intoxicated state on foot on a street at Otjomuise.
It is also alleged that Nandomba and Beukes raped Frederik or assisted or encouraged one another to rape Frederik, and that they mutilated Frederik’s private parts after the killing.
The state is further alleging that Nandomba and Beukes tried to frustrate a police investigation of the killing of Frederik by hiding a knife and bloodstained knife blade, hiding their clothing and shoes, and burning clothing and shoes of Nandomba that had blood on it.
During the pretrial hearing on Tuesday, Verhoef said defence lawyers Mese Tjituri and Charles Beukes, representing Nandomba and Beukes, respectively, have provided amended pleas from their clients to the state, and that she now has to consider the pleas being offered before the two accused make their next court appearance.
The state and the defence should meet to discuss the pleas being offered before the two accused make their next court appearance, Verhoef said.
Nandomba and Beukes are being held in custody.
Their next court appearance is scheduled to take place on 29 September.
