Samuel Shinedima
STATE witness, Job Kauvi, who is employed in the Namibian Police force as a detective inspector under the Forensic Department, on Monday testified in court that his analysis has established some strong connections in the evidentiary materials collected from the murder scene.
The 51st state witness in the NIMT double-murder trial, testified that on 18 May 2019, he was instructed to travel to Arandis to join the group that was busy with the investigations. He further testified that his task was to cast the prints found on the scene and take measurements thereof.
Upon consulting with the investigating officer, Kauvi indicated that it was revealed to him that there were tyre marks of a vehicle to have been parked under the bridge as well as shoe prints, in the proximity of the crime scene. The said vehicle had allegedly drove to a certain point where fire arms were discovered by the police, buried underground. The fire arms in question are said to be linked to the murder.
The state witness also told the court that due to the nature of the area, the footprints recorded at the murder scene were not clearly visible as the sand in the area is too loose. It is also for this reason that he was unable to take measurements of the foot prints, in order to determine the size.
Kauvi further testified that after they photographed all relevant evidence and were satisfied with their findings, the team drove back to the Arandis police station, to which they were handed over boots sealed in a forensic bag.
“The boots were of a caterpillar brand, and in size 11. Such boots were photographed and compiled in a photo plan, together with the photos of the shoeprints and all other photographs taken from the murder scene. The photo plan was handed over to the investigator,” he testified
Whilst presenting his photo plan to court, Kauvi noted that the sole of the boot he received from the police in Arandis had some similar patterns to the prints of the boot photographed and compiled in the photo plan, which is the footprint of the suspected murder, recorded from the murder scene. The footprint in question was also recorded on the area where a fire arm was discovered underground.
Although the state alleges that there exists a strong connection in the proximity of the evidentiary materials adduced, the defense lawyer, Albert Titus, probed on the accuracy of these evidences during cross examination.
The Defense asked Kauvi how he was able to determine the similarities of the bootprints, given that they were not clearly visible as he initially stated. To this, Kauvi answered that he admits that the footprints were not exactly similar, but almost similar, as he was unable to see the murder scene footprints clearly. He further added that the heels of the boot in the hands of the authorities have three parallel lines and one horizontal line, which are quite similar to the heels of the bootprint recorded on the crime scene.
Kauvi was testifying during the NIMT double-murder trial of Ernst Lichtenstrasser, in the evidence in chief led by state Prosecutor, Verhoef Antonia.
Lichtenstrasser was 57-year-old at the time of his arrest in 2019, as a suspect on double murder charges after the assassination of two NIMT-managers, the 72-year-old Eckhart Mueller and the 60-year-old Heimo Hellwig, in Arandis.
