THE High Court trial of the six men being prosecuted in connection with a N$5,7 million cash-in-transit heist north of Windhoek near the end of 2004 has ground to a halt.

Almost three weeks after its start before Judge Naomi Shivute in the High Court in Windhoek, the trial over the robbery in which a Namibian record amount of N$5,735 million was allegedly stolen from a cash-in-transit vehicle in the Brakwater area on December 29 2004 was thrown off track on Monday, when one of the defence lawyers involved in the matter, Sisa Namandje, withdrew from the case.

Namandje represented three of the accused on trial before Judge Shivute: Jason Awene (43), alias 'Kilingi', George Jambeinge (39) and Elikana Nghimwena (37).

His position in the trial became problematic late last week, when one of his clients in another pending High Court trial, Keetmanshoop Police officer Jacobus Otto, turned up in the witness stand to give evidence on behalf of the State in this case.

Allegations that Police officers at Keetmanshoop assaulted some of the accused in the heist trial - including Jambeinge - placed Namandje in the difficult position that he would have to cross-examine his client Otto, and possibly other Keetmanshoop Police officers who are also his clients, on behalf of his clients in the robbery trial.

In the other trial, Otto and other Police officers are being prosecuted on charges of murder and assault, with the prosecution alleging that they severely assaulted suspects at the Keetmanshoop Police Station during interrogations at the end of January 2006.

Although Namandje told Judge Shivute that he did not think that the other trial was relevant in the heist trial, fellow defence lawyers Jorge Neves and Koos Louw did not agree.

Awene, Jambeinge and Nghimwena told the court on Monday that they still wanted Namandje to continue to represent them. With the other defence lawyers however of the opinion that Namandje would be facing a conflict of interest if he continues to represent the accused in both trials, Namandje finally decided to withdraw from the case.

That step leaves Awene, Jambeinge and Nghimwena without legal representation.

To give them time to get another defence lawyer to represent them, the case was postponed to April 15, when a date might be set for the continuation of the trial.

Before Otto started to testify on Thursday last week, the court heard evidence that early in January 2005, Jambeinge directed Police officers investigating the heist to a house in Windhoek where a metal trunk containing about N$1,5 million was found in the boot of a car. The key of a padlock with which the trunk was locked, was in Jambeinge's car.

Namandje told the court that according to Jambeinge, he did not know if that money was part of the cash stolen during the robbery. Jambeinge's instructions were that the money had been given to him by one Sonnyboy Emvula, who has since died, the court heard.

During the testimony of one of the former Police officers who investigated the case, former Warrant Officer Geoffrey Scott, it also emerged that while the prosecution is now alleging that money had been recovered from a car of one of the other accused, Mateus Hauwanga (39), as well, Scott did not find any money in Hauwanga's car and is also not aware of anyone else having found money in his car.

The prosecution is alleging that Awene was the robber who set the heist in motion after the driver of the cash-in-transit vehicle, Jan Julius (38), had picked him up as Julius and a colleague set off from Windhoek to deliver a load of cash to banks in the Erongo Region.

Hauwanga later helped Awene get across the border as the latter fled to South Africa, the State is alleging further. Immigration officer Ndapewoshali Haufiku told the court last week that about half an hour before midnight on January 10 2005 Awene arrived at the Trans-Kalahari border post on the Botswana border east of Gobabis and went through departure procedures. A few minutes later Hauwanga and another man also arrived at the border post, but only Hauwanga passed through to Botswana, as the other man's passport had been cancelled, she said.

Hauwanga returned to Namibia from Botswana at about 13h00 the next day, she said. According to a vehicle driver's register that Hauwanga completed at the border post, he was alone in his car when he left Namibia and returned to the country. The prosecution is claiming that the Police recovered about N$3,383 million out of the stolen N$5,735 million from South Africa and from vehicles belonging to another accused, Benedictus Kasimbingwe (46), and Hauwanga. The six charged men are all free on bail.

Deputy Prosecutor General Heidi Jacobs is representing the State.