ONE of the three men accused of robbing and murdering a taxi driver at the Hage Geingob Stadium in Windhoek four months ago claimed in the Windhoek Magistrate's Court this week that one of his co-accused was responsible for the killing.

"I didn't commit that crime," Isaskar Nau-Gawaseb (38) told Magistrate Vanessa Stanley on Monday, when he and two co-accused gave their pleas on the three charges they are facing.

The two men in the dock with Nau-Gawaseb, Jackie Jackson (21) and former security guard Kaveto Pontianus Kwandu (27), both pleaded not guilty to all three charges, and remained silent about the basis of their defence. Nau-Gawaseb also pleaded not guilty, but gave a plea explanation in which he implicated Kwandu in the killing they are accused of.

Nau-Gawaseb, Jackson and Kwandu are accused of murdering taxi driver Alfons Rijatua (42) at the Hage Geingob Stadium on the night of April 18 to 19. Rijatua was allegedly murdered by being shot in the chest with a shotgun.

Kwandu is alleged to have been stationed at the stadium as a security guard at the time of the incident. Jackson and Nau-Gawaseb allegedly were visiting the scene when the killing took place. Rijatua had transported them to the scene in his taxi, it is claimed.

After Rijatua was shot, the three suspects allegedly robbed him by stealing his Toyota sedan vehicle, a cellphone, car radio and a compact disc player from him.

The prosecution is further alleging that, after Rijatua had been killed, the three men moved his body from the stadium to the Rocky Crest area. There the body was dumped in dense bushes. The car was thereafter left in the Golgotha area of Katutura.

Kwandu, Jackson and Nau-Gawaseb are charged with counts of murder, robbery with aggravating circumstances and defeating or obstructing the course of justice, or an attempt to defeat or obstruct the course of justice.

The third charge stems from allegations about the removal of the body from the alleged murder scene, the dumping of the body, the removal of the car's number plates and the covering of blood stains in the vehicle, before it was abandoned. They are also accused of having made false entries in an 'occurrence book' of the security company that Kwandu was working for, to indicate that no shooting had taken place at the stadium during the night of the incident, that Jackson and Nau-Gawaseb had not visited the scene that night, and that Kwandu never left the stadium premises that night.

Nau-Gawaseb, who was the only one of the three suspects to give a plea explanation to the court, told Magistrate Stanley that he and Jackson visited the premises where Kwandu was working on the evening of the incident. Kwandu opened the gate for them, and he and Jackson entered and went somewhere upstairs, he said.

When he and Jackson came down again, they found that "this man (Kwandu) shot the deceased," Nau-Gawaseb said.

"I don't know for what reason. He must say why he shot the man," Nau-Gawaseb said.

Kwandu however remained silent on that score on Monday.

Following the pleas of the three men, the case was postponed to October 28 for the Prosecutor General to make a decision on the further course the prosecution will take.

The three suspects are remains in custody in the meantime.

Jackson was arrested on April 19, Kwandu on April 21, and Nau-Gawaseb on April 27.