Double murder accused and lawyer part ways

A WINDHOEK resident charged with having murdered two women in the city at the start of 2016 has lost the defence lawyer who has been representing him during his trial in the Windhoek High Court.

Defence lawyer Mbanga Siyomunji announced his withdrawal from the trial of Lukas Nepela Nikodemus (49) to judge Christie Liebenberg yesterday, with an explanation that he felt a breach of trust had developed between him and his client, and that he could not continue to represent Nikodemus under such circumstances.

Siyomunji also told the judge that Nikodemus had accused him of being against him (Nikodemus) and “burying” him.

With Siyomunji having withdrawn, Nikodemus’ case was postponed to 22 May to give the Directorate of Legal Aid time to decide if it would instruct another lawyer to take over Nikodemus’ defence.

Nikodemus testified in his own defence during trial proceedings last week, and was expected to call witnesses to testify in his defence yesterday.

He is being prosecuted on two counts of murder, a charge of defeating or obstructing the course of justice, and a charge of failing to lock away a firearm. He denied guilt on all of the charges at the start of his trial in October last year.

The prosecution is alleging that Nikodemus murdered two women, Johanie Naruses (29) and Clementia de Wee (23), by shooting them with a firearm after the three of them had left a bar in Katutura in Windhoek during the evening of 6 January 2016.

The state is also alleging that he dumped the women’s bodies at a refuse site near Pionierspark in Windhoek, and set their corpses on fire in an attempt to destroy evidence and hinder the police’s investigation of their deaths. The bodies were found at the dumpsite on 7 January 2016.

Nikodemus told the court last week that he was romantically involved with both Naruses and De Wee – and also other women – at the same time. He related that he, Naruses, De Wee and a friend of his visited bars in Katutura during the evening of 6 January 2016, and later went to the house where he lived in Katutura.

According to Nikodemus, the last he saw of Naruses and De Wee was when they and a friend of De Wee, whom he knew only as “Bennie”, left his house with his car, which De Wee had asked to use so that she and Naruses could go buy beer and cider for themselves.

He told the court that Bennie returned to his house after midnight to return his car keys to him, while telling him his car had got stuck somewhere in Otjomuise.

The court has also heard that blood that matched the DNA profiles of both women was found in Nikodemus’ car after his arrest, while a bullet point ballistically matched with a pistol found under Nikodemus’ mattress was found lodged in the back rest of the rear seat of his car when police officers again investigated the car in June 2016.

Nikodemus has suggested that someone could have planted the bullet point in his car. He has been kept in custody since his arrest on 7 January 2016.

State advocate Cliff Lutibezi is prosecuting.