Trial over teacher’s murder postponed

FRESH dates will have to be set for the continuation of the trial of the two men charged with murdering a Karas regional advisory teacher in her home at Keetmanshoop in November 2007.

With 32 State witnesses having testified in the trial of Keetmanshoop residents Albertus Cloete (35) and Quinton Pieters (29) over the past three and a half weeks, their case was postponed yesterday to July 22, by when a date for the continuation of the trial should be set.Cloete and Pieters pleaded not guilty to charges of murder, robbery with aggravating circumstances and two counts of rape when their trial started before Judge Alfred Siboleka in the High Court in Windhoek on May 27. Their defence lawyer, Monty Karuaihe, did not reveal the basis of their defence to the charges to the court after they had pleaded.The two men are accused of gang-raping, robbing and murdering Keetmanshoop resident Magda Maas (55), who was an advisory teacher attached to the Karas Regional Education Office, in her home during the night of November 2 to 3 2007.Maas, who lived alone, was found lying partly naked in her house on the morning of November 3 2007.A hammer, which is alleged to have been used in an attack on her, was found lying next to her body.During the trial so far Judge Siboleka has heard testimony from medical doctor Simasiku Kabanje, who testified on the report on the autopsy done on Maas by another doctor, who has since left the country. Dr Kabanje testified that according to this post-mortem report, Maas died as a result of a head injury and strangulation. Her skull was fractured, which could have been the result of a hammer blow, and marks on her neck could have been the result of her being strangled manually, he said.No clear evidence of rape was found with the autopsy, though, Dr Kabanje also testified.Cloete and Pieters are alleged to have stolen various items – including a set of suitcases, a hi-fi sound system, a sewing machine, a cellphone, a wristwatch and a digital camera – from Maas’s house after she had been killed.The court has so far heard that several of these items, such as a suitcase with the hi-fi inside, were found in the two men’s possession when they were arrested on November 3 2007, and that they also offered items alleged to have been part of the stolen goods for sale before their arrest.Defence lawyer Karuaihe has so far told witnesses that according to Cloete and Pieters, they indeed got hold of the goods through a robbery – but this was not a robbery in which Maas was the victim. Their version is that they robbed other people of these goods, Karuaihe has said.The court has also been told that the Police found shoe prints inside and outside Maas’s yard. A plaster cast of one of these prints is part of the evidence before court.This print, it is being alleged, matches the print made by a sandal that belonged to Cloete.A Police officer who took photographs at the crime scene and of clothing and other items confiscated from the two suspects after their arrest, Sergeant Thomas Goliath, had been recalled to the witness stand before the trial was postponed yesterday. Goliath previously testified that he did not photograph the shoes that were worn by the two men at the time of their arrest.Yesterday he however told the judge that he has in the meantime found more of the photos he took at the time, and these indeed included photos of the two suspects’ shoes – with Cloete’s allegedly incriminating sandals also shown on the photographs.Goliath told the court that he had made a human error, or had not properly understood the questions he was being asked, when he previously testified that he did not take photos of the shoes.Cloete and Pieters have remained in custody since their arrest.State advocate Innocentia Nyoni is prosecuting.