Two in court over Joubert murder

TWO young men accused of having murdered a former public relations officer of Namibia’s Environment Ministry, Jan Joubert, a week ago, made a first court appearance in the Gobabis Magistrate’s Court yesterday.

The two suspects, Steve Kaseraera (24) and Muamuhona Karirao (21), are set to appear in the same court again today, possibly to plead to the charges against them. According to a Police spokesperson, Warrant Officer James Matengu, both men have already made formal confessions in which they admitted their guilt to the crimes that they are accused of.They appeared in court yesterday on charges of murder, robbery with aggravating circumstances and theft of a motor vehicle.With no Magistrate available to take down the duo’s pleas to the charges, Public Prosecutor Tuvoye Hishikushitja asked Assistant Magistrate Marina Visser to remand the case until today, when a Magistrate is expected to be present for the suspects’ second court appearance.Matengu said yesterday that both suspects were arrested in the Talismanis area northeast of Gobabis on Sunday.A large hoard of items that they are alleged to have stolen from Joubert when they allegedly robbed and killed him, have been recovered by the Police, Matengu said.He claimed that Kaseraera and Karirao, who hail from the Steenboklaagte area near Talismanis, have also admitted that they killed Joubert by shooting him with a .308 rifle in his chest on Wednesday last week.Joubert’s body was found on Friday, after his four-wheel-drive vehicle, partly stained with blood, had been found abandoned near Gobabis’s Epako residential area on Thursday last week.Joubert had last been in contact with his wife in Strand in South Africa on Wednesday morning last week from a place where he had camped the previous night about 60 kilometres north of Talismanis.It had initially been thought that Joubert (59) had been stabbed to death.However, said Matengu yesterday, it has now been established that he had been shot.Joubert, who was living in the Western Cape in South Africa after he had left the service of the Ministry of Environment in Namibia, was travelling through a remote part of the Omaheke Region when he was killed.He was in Namibia as part of a project in which he was retracing the route that late-nineteenth century Dorsland trekkers had taken through that part of Namibia during their ill-fated journeys through the country.As the author of a number of travelling guides for four-wheel-drive enthusiasts, and having also helped establish 4×4 routes in Namibia and South Africa, Joubert was well-known in tourism and environmental circles in both these countries.According to a Police spokesperson, Warrant Officer James Matengu, both men have already made formal confessions in which they admitted their guilt to the crimes that they are accused of. They appeared in court yesterday on charges of murder, robbery with aggravating circumstances and theft of a motor vehicle.With no Magistrate available to take down the duo’s pleas to the charges, Public Prosecutor Tuvoye Hishikushitja asked Assistant Magistrate Marina Visser to remand the case until today, when a Magistrate is expected to be present for the suspects’ second court appearance.Matengu said yesterday that both suspects were arrested in the Talismanis area northeast of Gobabis on Sunday.A large hoard of items that they are alleged to have stolen from Joubert when they allegedly robbed and killed him, have been recovered by the Police, Matengu said.He claimed that Kaseraera and Karirao, who hail from the Steenboklaagte area near Talismanis, have also admitted that they killed Joubert by shooting him with a .308 rifle in his chest on Wednesday last week.Joubert’s body was found on Friday, after his four-wheel-drive vehicle, partly stained with blood, had been found abandoned near Gobabis’s Epako residential area on Thursday last week.Joubert had last been in contact with his wife in Strand in South Africa on Wednesday morning last week from a place where he had camped the previous night about 60 kilometres north of Talismanis.It had initially been thought that Joubert (59) had been stabbed to death.However, said Matengu yesterday, it has now been established that he had been shot.Joubert, who was living in the Western Cape in South Africa after he had left the service of the Ministry of Environment in Namibia, was travelling through a remote part of the Omaheke Region when he was killed.He was in Namibia as part of a project in which he was retracing the route that late-nineteenth century Dorsland trekkers had taken through that part of Namibia during their ill-fated journeys through the country.As the author of a number of travelling guides for four-wheel-drive enthusiasts, and having also helped establish 4×4 routes in Namibia and South Africa, Joubert was well-known in tourism and environmental circles in both these countries.