Windhoek resident Daniele Ferrari, who lost his life in a robbery at the Avis Dam green space in July 2020, refused to hand over his cellphone to two armed assailants before they attacked him.
This is according to testimony heard in the Windhoek High Court.
A state witness in the trial of the three men being prosecuted in connection with the armed robbery in which Ferrari was killed, Robert McGregor, told judge Naomi Shivute on Thursday that he and a friend were jogging at the dam in Windhoek when they saw Ferrari being held up by two men.
McGregor said Ferrari did not want to hand his phone to the two men, who were armed with a knife and a panga, before he heard one of the men saying “steek hom” – “stab him” – to his companion two or three times.
Ferrari managed to break free from the two men and ran away, but they followed him and cornered him, with the man armed with a knife kicking Ferrari, McGregor said.
He recounted that he and his jogging partner implored Ferrari to hand over his cellphone, but he refused.
When Ferrari ran around the two assailants, the man armed with a panga approached McGregor and asked him for his cellphone.
McGregor said he showed the man his pockets were empty.
The man then took his house keys from him and struck him twice on the side of his head with the flat side of his panga.
Although the blows with the panga were hard, he was not cut by the weapon, McGregor said.
“While this was happening, the victim tried to get back to his car in the parking area behind the sluice gate,” McGregor continued.
The two assailants pursued Ferrari, and while doing so, the man with the panga struck his friend on his upper right arm, leaving him with a cut wound, McGregor told the court.
“The two assailants were following the victim to his vehicle in the car park,” he said.
At that point he did not see any visible injuries on Ferrari, he added.
He said he helped his friend by taking off his shirt and tying it around his bleeding arm.
Realising that they had to get away from the scene, he and his friend took a footpath going from the dam to the Avis residential area, where they reported to his friend’s landlord that they had been attacked, McGregor said.
The incident took place during the early evening of 14 July 2020.
The court has heard that Ferrari (52) suffered fatal injuries when he was attacked.
He made it to his car, where he was later found sitting in the driver’s seat of the vehicle.
The window of the driver’s side door of the car had been smashed.
Ferrari died in the car. He had been struck with a sharp object and stabbed.
The three men on trial before Shivute – Iileka Kefas (37), Johannes Shetunyenga (36) and Antonio Cheme (29) – pleaded not guilty to seven charges when their trial started on Tuesday.
None of the accused gave a plea explanation.
The charges on which they denied guilt include a count of murder, two counts of robbery with aggravating circumstances, and charges of attempted murder and assault with intent to do grievous bodily harm.
The trial was postponed on Friday, and is scheduled to continue from 19 May and also in July next year.
Shetunyenga and Cheme are free on bail. Kefas is being held in custody after he was arrested last month in connection with a separate case.
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