Four found not guilty of gang rape and murder

THE four suspects accused of brutally raping and murdering young Windhoek resident Theresia Afrikaner in a riverbed in May 2005 were all acquitted on charges of murder, rape and kidnapping yesterday.

In a judgement delivered in the High Court in Windhoek, Acting Judge Claus Hinrichsen found the four men, who went on trial before him in mid-October last year, not guilty on all 18 charges they faced.Sam Angolo (25), Jonathan Taapopi Ashipala (23), Stefanus Lazarus (29) and Thomas Phillemon (28) – were jointly charged with counts of murder and kidnapping, while each of them also stood trial on an additional four counts of rape.They were acquitted on all of those charges yesterday. Angolo and Ashipala, however, were each found guilty of assault with intent to do grievous bodily harm. They are set to be sentenced on that charge today.The four men were accused of assaulting a young mother of two children, Theresia Afrikaner (23), in Windhoek’s Okuryangava area during the early morning hours of May 14 2005. In the course of the assault, the four suspects dragged Afrikaner away towards a riverbed, where they then took turns raping her and murdered her by strangling her, it was alleged.Afrikaner’s half-naked body was found in the riverbed at about 06h00 on May 14 2005.’This is a hard case,’ Acting Judge Hinrichsen stated at the start of the judgement delivered yesterday.He recounted that the only direct evidence presented by the prosecution was testimony from eyewitnesses who saw Angolo and Ashipala assaulting Afrikaner before they disappeared with her into the darkness.’The assaults perpetrated on the deceased (Afrikaner) were serious indeed,’ Acting Judge Hinrichsen commented. ‘The deceased was not merely slapped but was hit with fists and very likely with bricks or stones. She fell to the ground and was bleeding.’The problem for the prosecution, though, was this: ‘All the direct evidence is confined to the two assault scenes and does not link up, lead or point to the cardinal crimes allegedly committed, namely rape and murder.’A report on a forensic analysis of a suspected semen sample found on Afrikaner’s body and saliva samples taken from the four suspects was ‘useless’, as it merely made unrelated findings on blood types and did not implicate any of the four accused, Acting Judge Hinrichsen commented.He said the fact that no scientifically based DNA testing of semen or blood, tissue or clothing was done, was an important shortcoming in the prosecution’s case.All four suspects chose to remain silent and close the cases in their own defence without testifying after the State had closed its case.That left only a statement that Ashipala made to the Police as evidence on the events that took place during the night of Afrikaner’s death.With Ashipala not repeating the statement in testimony during the trial, the contents of that statement could not be taken as evidence against any of his co-accused, though, Acting Judge Hinrichsen noted. In his statement, Ashipala placed himself at the scene where, according to him, he saw his three co-accused assaulting Afrikaner and Angolo then having intercourse with her.He did not implicate himself in any of the crimes they were charged with, however.Ashipala also related in the statement that Afrikaner, who had previously been screaming as Angolo, Lazarus and Phillemon dragged her towards a riverbed and were throwing stones at her, was no longer moving or making a sound as Angolo had intercourse with her.’She could by that time have been dead – (Angolo) could have unwittingly committed an act or necrophilia upon the deceased,’ Acting Judge Hinrichsen commented.Even Ashipala’s statement, however, was not sufficient to prove the charges of rape and murder, he found.It is possible that the four men raped and murdered Afrikaner, Acting Judge Hinrichsen indicated. But it had not been proven beyond reasonable doubt, he found.’In the light of the above it is unfortunate that only limited justice can be done in this case,’ he stated. ‘Technically there is no evidence strong enough to bring to task the culprits who caused the body of Theresia Afrikaner to lie in the riverbed.’State advocate Ed Marondedze conducted the prosecution. Angolo was represented by defence lawyer Jan Wessels, Ashipala by Profysen Muluti, Lazarus by Edwin Coetzee and Phillemon by Clive Kavendjii.All four suspects have been in custody since mid-May 2005.