Accused denies murder of trainee pastor

MURDER accused Andre Dausab, who is charged with killing his trainee pastor girlfriend in Windhoek in February, is denying all the allegations being made against him, he informed a magistrate in the Windhoek Magistrate’s Court yesterday.

Dausab (33) pleaded not guilty to a murder charge during his latest court appearance before Magistrate Jermaine Muchali.

In a written statement given to the magistrate, Dausab said he did not wish to reveal the basis of his defence to the charge at this stage, but that his defence would become clear if the Prosecutor General decided to put him on trial. “I deny each and every allegation in the charge sheet,” he also stated.

In the charge to which Dausab pleaded yesterday he is accused of having murdered his girlfriend, Gofaone Motlamme, at the Paulinum Theological College in Windhoek on 22 February. Motlamme (32), who was a citizen of Botswana and was a student at the college, was killed when she was stabbed repeatedly with a knife. It was reported at the time of the incident that her throat had also been cut.

Dausab was arrested in connection with the killing on the same day of the incident.

With his first court appearance Dausab’s defence lawyer expressed concern over his client’s state of mind and asked the magistrate to order that Dausab should undergo a period of psychiatric observation.

The observation was done from 14 May to 6 June. It resulted in a report in which a State psychiatrist, Dr Ndahambelela Mthoko, stated that a team involved in the observation concluded unanimously that Dausab was not mentally ill, was fit to plead and stand trial, and was not mentally ill at the time of the crime of which he is accused.

Dausab did not show any symptoms of mental illness during the observation period, it was stated in the report. “He was able to give a coherent account of the alleged crime, and of himself,” Dr Mthoko added.

The psychiatrist’s report was handed to Magistrate Muchali with Dausab’s previous court appearance on 28 August.

Dausab was employed as a multimedia technician at the Namibian College of Open Learning before his arrest.

His case has been postponed to 7 November for the Prosecutor General to make a decision about the further course that the prosecution of Dausab would take. Dausab is being kept in custody in the meantime.

Defence lawyer Willem Visser represented Dausab yesterday. Tatelo Lusepani represented the State.