WINDHOEK: A nine-year-old girl whose charred remains were found at a dumping site also had her legs broken, the Windhoek High Court was informed on Monday.
This was heard during the criminal trial of three Zimbabwean nationals accused of brutally assaulting Natalie Chipomho. Her body, according to a Namibian Police Force Senior Inspector, Detective Josef Ndokosho, was also burned beyond recognition. The suspects in the matter are Chipomho’s mother, Rachel Kureva, Edward Nkata and Caroline Nkata.
It is alleged that after they killed the girl, they dumped her body at a dumping site and burned it. A security guard discovered the remains. The suspects denied guilt at the start of the trial. They face charges of murder, attempted murder, assault with intent to do grievous bodily harm, a charge of defeating or obstructing the course of justice, a count of failure to provide adequate medical assistance to a child, two counts of fraud and a count of forgery.
The murder, according to Ndokosho, took place between 23
and 25 January 2020. An eyewitness who is a neighbour to the suspects, he said, told the police that he saw a ‘fat’ man and a woman with a baby, carrying a rubbish bin around 21h00. Allegations are that the deceased was fatally assaulted in a Windhoek flat where she resided with her mother and the Nkata couple.
Ndokosho testified before Judge Philanda Christiaan that the couple fled Windhoek and were intercepted by police officers at a temporary roadblock between Okahandja and Otjiwarongo. They were allegedly making their way to Okakarara.
Kureva, he told the court, was arrested at her place of work in Windhoek. She was a nurse at the time of her arrest. Caroline Nkata was a teacher at a local school.
The trial continues in the high court.
Source : The Namibia News Agency