Four found guilty over fatal house robbery

Four men prosecuted in connection with a fatal armed robbery committed at Walvis Bay eight years ago have been found guilty on six charges, including a count of murder.

Judge Dinnah Usiku convicted the four men – Panduleni Gotlieb, David Tashiya, David Shekundja and Elly Hinaivali – at the end of a lengthy judgement delivered in the High Court at Windhoek Correctional Facility on Monday.

Usiku found that the four men jointly carried out an armed robbery during which a Walvis Bay resident, Hans-Jörg Möller (50), was fatally shot in his home at the harbour town during the night of 16 to 17 June 2016.

The four men also attempted to murder Möller’s wife, Carol-Ann Möller, by assaulting and seriously injuring her during the robbery, the judge found.

A fifth accused who stood trial before Usiku, Malakia Shiweda, was acquitted, with Usiku saying she was persuaded by the explanation he gave to the court in his own defence.

Shiweda told the court he was at Walvis Bay on the evening of 16 June 2016, that his four co-accused were also at the town, and that he drove with them back to Windhoek in the early hours of the next morning.

Shiweda said he was not present at the house where the robbery took place, but received a phone call to pick his four co-accused up at the town late at night.

Gotlieb, Shekundja and Hinaivali denied that they were at Walvis Bay when the robbery took place at the Möllers’ home.
Usiku rejected their alibis, though.

The judge found that they and Tashiya conspired to carry out a robbery at the Möllers’ house after they had received information, coming from an employee of the couple, that a large amount of money was being kept in a safe in the house.

Hans-Jörg Möller was shot in the abdomen during the robbery. He died in a hospital a day later.

A pistol found in Gotlieb’s possession at a police roadblock near Ondangwa on the evening of 17 June 2016 was later linked to the projectile that struck Möller when he was shot during the robbery.

Foreign currency, two passport photos of the Möllers’ two daughters and a tyre lever and screwdriver, described as potential housebreaking instruments, were also found in Gotlieb’s possession.

Usiku found Gotlieb, Tashiya, Shekundja and Hinaivali guilty on charges of murder, attempted murder, housebreaking with intent to rob and robbery with aggravating circumstances, conspiring to commit housebreaking and robbery, and possession of a firearm and ammunition without a licence.

The four men, who are being held in custody, are due to return to court on Monday next week.