Soldier denies murdering taxi driver

A Namibian Defence Force (NDF) member accused of murdering a young taxi driver during an anti-crime operation in June 2019 is denying guilt.

Gerson Nakale pleaded not guilty to counts of murder and discharging a firearm in a public area when his trial began in the Windhoek Regional Court on Friday.

Nakale (43) is accused of killing a Zimbabwean citizen, Fambauone ‘Talent’ Black (22), in the Greenwell Matongo area of Windhoek on 13 June 2019.

Black died after he had been shot in the head in the taxi he was driving near a roadblock that had been set up by security force members who were part of an anti-crime operation, named Operation Kalahari Desert.

Government lawyer Lindrowski Thibinyane, who is representing Nakale, informed magistrate Selma Sibeya on Friday that Nakale is not offering a plea explanation to the court at this stage and that his defence to the charges would become clear when he questions witnesses during the trial.

The prosecution’s first witness in the trial, Elsie Gaweses, who is a senior inspector in the Namibian Police, testified that she was in command of a group of members of the Namibian Police, Windhoek City Police, NDF and Namibian Correctional Service (NCS) who set up a roadblock at a three-way junction on Eveline Street at Greenwell Matongo around midnight between 12 and 13 June 2019.

Gaweses said at about 01h00 a white car approached the roadblock at high speed.

She said she heard someone shouting “stop!” at the vehicle, which turned off the street onto a gravel road to the side.

She then heard the sound of three gunshots, with an interval of about five seconds between the first and the second shot, Gaweses testified.

The car came to a standstill next to a building.

Gaweses said some of her colleagues approached the car and one then called out: “The guy is shot.”

She also went closer to the car and saw blood inside the vehicle, she said.

Gaweses said the driver of the car was declared dead after an ambulance had arrived at the scene.

Four members of the group of police officers, NDF members and NCS members under her command had firearms that evening, Gaweses recounted.

Nakale and a member of the NCS were each armed with an AK-47 rifle, while two others had pistols, she said.

Gaweses also told the court the operational instructions given to the group under her command were that a warning shot could be fired if a vehicle fled from their roadblock and a security force member’s life was in danger.

That could be followed by a second warning shot and a third shot could be aimed at the vehicle to make it stop, she said.

The trial is scheduled to continue on 23 August.

Nakale has been released on bail.

Public prosecutor Bernadine Bertolini is representing the state.