Court hears about dumping of dead child’s body

“I was afraid of him at that moment, because I looked at him as a murderer and I followed everything he was saying.”

This claim is part of a statement Zimbabwean citizen Caroline Nkata, who is being prosecuted in connection with the death of a girl (9) in Windhoek four and a half years ago, made to a magistrate after her arrest.

Nkata’s statement, which was recorded by magistrate Alweendo Venatius on 28 January 2020, became part of the evidence in her trial in the Windhoek High Court on Tuesday.

Nkata (40), her husband, Edward Nkata (41) and a fellow Zimbabwean, Rachel Kureva (41), are standing trial before judge Philanda Christiaan in connection with the death of Kureva’s daughter, Akundaishe Chipomho (9), in Windhoek during the period of 23 to 25 January 2020.

The charges faced by the three accused include a count of murder, two charges of attempted murder and a count of defeating or obstructing the course of justice. They have denied guilt on the charges.

The state is alleging that Akundaishe died as a result of an assault.

After her death, her body was dumped in a rubbish skip near the flat in the Rhino Park area of Windhoek North where she lived with her mother, the Nkata couple and their children.

Akundaishe’s body was set on fire in the rubbish skip, where it was found during the morning of 25 January 2020.

In the statement recorded by Venatius, Caroline Nkata said her husband assaulted Akundaishe at their home and threatened to assault her as well when she tried to intervene while he was beating the girl.

Akundaishe was unresponsive after the assault, Caroline said.

She also said when she suggested to her husband that they should take the girl to a hospital, he threatened to assault her and told her she too would be arrested if she reported the incident to the police.

She continued that Edward took Akundaishe to the garage of their flat, where he left her on a mattress.

The next morning, Edward informed her Akundaishe was dead, she said.

After Edward had told her he was going to dispose of Akundaishe’s body in a rubbish skip, he forced her to accompany him to a service station, where he bought paraffin, she said.

That evening, Edward put Akundaishe’s body in a wheelie bin in the garage and forced her to go with him to a rubbish skip, into which he threw the body, Caroline related.

She stated: “Then he forced me again to go with and if I will not go with him we will have problems in the house. He said he was going to assault me.”

She was afraid of him at that stage “because I looked at him as a murderer and I followed everything that he was saying”, Caroline also said.

Having returned home from the rubbish skip, Edward woke her up around midnight to go with him to burn the body, she recounted as well.

Kureva was at work when the assault on her daughter took place, Caroline told the magistrate.

She did not know if Edward told Kureva after her return home in the afternoon what had happened in her absence, “but on my side I did not tell her anything, because I was afraid that if I said anything to her Edward would assault me”, she added.

The trial is continuing.