THE double murder trial of former security guard Jonas Shinana, who is accused of killing his two children in Windhoek near the end of 2009, is due to continue in December.
Shinana’s trial was postponed in the Windhoek High Court on Friday last week. The trial is scheduled to continue before Judge Nate Ndauendapo from 8 December.
Shinana’s former girlfriend, Rosalia Antonius, is set to continue with her testimony when the trial resumes.
Antonius is the mother of the two children allegedly murdered by Shinana (30) during the night of 23 to 24 December 2009. The children, Matheus Shinana (6) and Emilia Naatye Shinana (4), were killed when their throats were cut.
The prosecution is alleging that Shinana used a knife to murder the children and then tried to commit suicide by hanging himself. The alleged suicide attempt failed.
Shinana pleaded not guilty to two charges of murder at the start of his trial three weeks ago.
During the trial his defence lawyer, Bradley Basson, has told witnesses that according to Shinana he was at home with the children, watching television, on the evening of 23 December 2009 when an unknown intruder entered their room and strangled him until he lost consciousness. The next thing Shinana was aware of was waking up in hospital, Basson said.
Witnesses who found Shinana lying unconscious in the room where the two children lay dead on a mattress on the floor have told the court that Shinana still had a piece of rope around his neck. A similar piece of rope was tied around a wooden roof beam in the room.
Antonius has so far told the court that she left the children with a friend in Windhoek’s Havana area when she travelled to the north after she had received a cellphone text message in which Shinana had threatened to kill her. She heard that her children had been killed about two days after she had left Windhoek.
Antonius also testified that she and two of her friends paid a visit to Shinana in prison after his arrest.
Shinana apologised to her, saying he was sorry about having done something bad to her, Antonius said. He also showed her a mark on his neck and told her that he had tried to kill himself, she added.
Shinana has been in custody since his arrest.
State advocate Palmer Kumalo is prosecuting.
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