Werner Menges
24 November 2008
MOST of the allegedly self-incriminating statements that were made by two young men who are charged with robbing and murdering a 79-year-old goldsmith at Okahandja more than six years ago were ruled to be admissible as evidence in their trial in the High Court in Windhoek last week.
Following the ruling on Wednesday in a drawn-out trial within a trial on the admissibility of alleged admissions and confessions claimed to have been made by murder and armed robbery suspects Joseph Gavin Gariseb and Deon //Garoëb, the two men's trial has again been postponed.
The trial, which only started more than five and a half years after the crimes that the two men are accused of were committed, is now scheduled to continue from June 29 to July 10 next year.
Gariseb (26) and //Garoëb (25) have pleaded not guilty to counts of murder and housebreaking with intent to rob and robbery with aggravating circumstances.
They are accused of having broken into the house of Okahandja goldsmith Ludwig Wojatschek (79) in the period from September 14 to 15 2002, and of robbing and murdering Wojatschek in his home.
Defence lawyers Vincent Olivier and Profysen Muluti, who are representing the two accused, raised objections against evidence of alleged admissions that the two men made to Police officers after their arrest when the trial was about to move in that direction two weeks ago.
Both claimed that they did not make alleged admissions, confessions and the pointing out of the crime scene to Police officers freely and voluntarily, as they were assaulted and threatened by Police officers who interrogated them after their arrest in October 2002.
They also claimed that the statements that they made were in any event not the truth.
The Police officers in turn denied the claims, Acting Judge John Manyarara noted when he gave his ruling in the trial within a trial on Wednesday."Sweeping allegations of Police brutality" following the arrest of the two men were made by them, Acting Judge Manyarara remarked.
He noted that the two men testified about threats, beatings and torture at the hands of Police officers involved in their interrogation, including the application of electric shocks and a claim by Garoëb that his private parts were squeezed with pliers by one Police officer.
Garoëb also claimed he was forced to put his thumb print on a document that is now claimed to be a confession by him, but which he denies having made.
All of these claims were denied by the Police officers involved in the questioning of the two suspects.
The officers also claimed to have given the two men the appropriate warnings of their constitutional rights before admissions were eventually made by them, Acting Judge Manyarara also noted.
He said in his view the conflicting versions would take the court nowhere and would by that very fact be ignored.
He ruled that admissions which were made to any Police officers and which were not taken down in writing would not be admissible as evidence in the trial.
Evidence about the recovery or finding of property allegedly stolen from Wojatschek's house and alleged to connect the two men to the crime would be admissible, he decided.
He further ruled that statements and a pointing out of the crime scene that were made by Gariseb and //Garoëb and which were recorded in writing by the Police and signed by the accused and the Police officers recording the statements can be used as evidence by the prosecution.
The court has not yet heard what Gariseb and //Garoëb told the Police in the statements that they made.
Both men have been in custody since their arrests more than six years ago.
The court ordered that they are to remain in custody until their trial resumes.
State advocate Belinda Wantenaar is prosecuting.
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