Murder-for-hire case arrives in High Court

A WOMAN accused of having hired people to murder her husband at the end of March last year made a first appearance in the Windhoek High Court together with five co-accused on charges of murder, robbery and conspiracy to commit murder last week.

The first appearance of Annastancia Lubinda (35) and her co-accused before judge Christie Liebenberg on Thursday ended with them being told that they have to attend a second pretrial hearing in the High Court on 19 January. The judge set 12 January as the deadline by when the defence lawyers representing the six accused have to file their replies to a list of questions through which the state is trying to establish which issues would be in dispute during their eventual trial. Lubinda, David Matali (46), David Kondjara (35), Abiud Uazeua (36), Donald Hindjou (27) and Dollam Tjitjahuma (28) are jointly charged with counts of murder, robbery with aggravating circumstances and conspiracy to commit murder in connection with the killing of Lubinda's husband, Peter Riscoh Muleke (36), in the Goreangab Dam area in Windhoek during the night of 29 to 30 March last year. The state is alleging that Lubinda conspired with the five other accused to have Muleke murdered. Muleke, who was employed with the City of Windhoek, was allegedly murdered when he was stoned to death. He died of head injuries. Lubinda admitted in a confession made to a magistrate after her arrest on 1 April last year that she was involved in a plot to have her husband killed. She also implicated Matali as having played a key role in the alleged plot. The confession, in which Lubinda related that she had been the victim of domestic violence at the hands of her husband, was revealed during the hearing of an unsuccessful bail application by Matali last year. Lubinda also repeated her accusations against Matali in a statement in which she objected to the granting of bail to him. In the statement, Lubinda blamed Matali for having influenced her to have her husband killed due to problems that they were experiencing in their marriage. Lubinda said Matali told her he knew someone who had poison that could be used to get rid of Muleke. She said after the supposed supplier of the poison had told Matali that he did not have such a substance, Matali gave her a cellphone number through which she could contact people who were in the business of killing others on request. She stated that the hit men's initial asking price for the murder was N$7 000, but the price was lowered to N$5 000 after she had explained that she did not have enough money to pay the higher price. Lubinda also stated that she borrowed N$2 000 from a cash loan company in order to pay the hired killers N$5 000. Statements made by Kondjara and Hindjou after their arrest were also revealed during Matali's bail hearing. In the statements both of them claimed Lubinda was present at the scene where Muleke was killed. They also denied having taken part in the fatal assault, which they said had been carried out by one Mendu and someone named Dolum. Matali denied during his bail hearing that he had been involved in a conspiracy to murder Muleke. An appeal by him against the refusal of his request to be granted bail was likewise dismissed by a High Court judge in June this year. All of the six accused remain in custody.