City murder and robbery charges denied

THE three men alleged to have carried out a deadly armed robbery in Windhoek’s Northern Industrial Area at the start of November 2009 have denied guilt on all charges against them in the Windhoek High Court.

The three accused – Willem Kawulefelwa Valombola (42), Toivo Kashipolo (34) and Fillipus Shishiveni Nomongula (36) – pleaded not guilty to charges of murder, robbery with aggravating circumstances, possession of a firearm and ammunition without a licence, and two counts of attempted murder when they went on trial before Judge Naomi Shivute on Monday.

They are being prosecuted in connection with an armed robbery that claimed the life of a security company director, Andries de Jager (68), after he had been shot in the Northern Industrial Area on 2 November 2009.

De Jager and an employee of his security company, HAMS Security, were robbed when they returned to the company’s office after withdrawing money at a bank to pay the monthly salaries of the company’s employees.

The prosecution is alleging that the three accused arrived at HAMS Security’s office in a car and that two of them got out of the vehicle carrying firearms. They allegedly started to fire shots at De Jager and a colleague, Martha Diergaardt, grabbed a briefcase containing N$172 488,10 from them, and then fled from the scene.

Two of the alleged robbers got away from the scene with a car, the State is alleging in its indictment against the three accused. Kashipolo allegedly tried to flee from the scene on foot. While trying to make a getaway he abandoned the stolen briefcase and a firearm, the prosecution is charging.

Kashipolo was arrested after he had been shot and wounded.

Diergaardt testified on Monday that one of the robbers aimed a gun at her while she was still sitting in a bakkie of the company after she and De Jager had arrived at the office. The robber fired a shot at her and would have shot her in the head, had she not ducked at that moment while trying to close the bakkie’s window, she said.

One of the robbers also fired a shot at De Jager from a distance of about two metres, she said.

Another colleague of the late De Jager, Hansie Engels, testified that he heard gunshots just after De Jager had returned to the office from the bank. Engels said when he looked out of his office window he saw a man running past, carrying the briefcase that was usually used when money was collected from the bank to pay the security company’s monthly staff salaries.

The man was armed and was firing shots towards his back while running away, Engels said.

He also saw De Jager firing shots at the fleeing suspect, and then noticed blood on the back of De Jager’s shirt, Engels testified.

He said he and a colleague went outside to help De Jager, whose pistol had jammed by then. They first helped him into the office, and after waiting in vain for an ambulance to arrive they decided to take De Jager to a hospital, Engels said.

De Jager was still alive when they got to the hospital, he said. The trial is continuing.