THE two suspects accused of using a Police uniform to carry out a car hijacking in Klein Windhoek a year ago heard yesterday that they will not be released on bail after almost a year in custody.

Releasing Windhoek residents Maveipi Patriot Andima (25) and Gert Claasen (26) on bail at this stage would not be in the interest of justice, Magistrate Duard Kesslau said when he turned down a bail application by the two charged men in the Windhoek Magistrate's Court yesterday.

Andima and Claasen are charged with counts of robbery, theft of a motor vehicle, and impersonating a member of the Police.

They are accused of having used a Police uniform to stop a car in Klein Windhoek's Bowker Street on the evening of December 19 last year, and of having robbed the four occupants of the car at gunpoint after the vehicle had been brought to a halt.

In his ruling on the two men's request to be granted bail, Magistrate Kesslau recounted that the court was told that Andima was found with a Police uniform and the wallet of one of the complainants in the robbery at the house where he stayed in Windhoek.

Andima also directed the Police to the spot where the car that was stolen in the robbery had been parked, and told the Police where to find the keys of the car in a shebeen where he had hidden them, he noted.

Andima told the court that these items had been given to him by a friend, one Shindimbwa, who he claimed has since committed suicide.

The court found this explanation to be improbable.

The Magistrate remarked that when one of the complainants who was in the car during the robbery testified during the bail application she identified Andima without hesitation as having been one of the robbers.

A second passenger in the car also identified Claasen as having been one of the robbers. Claasen himself further admitted during the bail hearing that he had been present at the scene of the robbery, but claimed that Shindimbwa, and not Andima, was there with him.

The court got the impression when Andima and Claasen testified that they were hiding information and were not totally honest with the court, the Magistrate commented.

He said in his opinion the State has a strong case against the two charged men.

Andima was arrested on December 22 last year. Claasen was arrested a week later.

The two men now have to appear in court again on February 19.