The mother of a nine-year-old girl allegedly murdered in Windhoek in January 2020 misled police officers by telling them her daughter was with the child's father in Zimbabwe.
This was testified by two police officers when the trial of the girl's mother and a married couple accused of killing the girl continued in the Windhoek High Court this week.
Zimbabwean citizens Edward Nkata (42), Caroline Nkata (41) and Rachel Kureva (42) are standing trial before judge Philanda Christiaan in connection with the death of Kureva's daughter, Akundaishe Natalie Chipomho (9), in Windhoek during the period of 23 to 25 January 2020.
The state is alleging that Akundaishe died as a result of an assault.
After her death, her body was dumped in a rubbish skip near the flat in the Rhino Park area of Windhoek North where she lived with her mother, the Nkata couple and their children.
Akundaishe's body was set on fire after it had been dumped in the rubbish skip, where it was found during the morning of 25 January 2020.
The charges faced by the three accused include a count of murder, two charges of attempted murder and a count of defeating or obstructing the course of justice.
The Nkata couple and Kureva denied guilt on all of the charges at the start of their trial in June last year.
Christiaan this week continued to hear testimony in a trial within a trial to determine if the prosecution will be allowed to use statements allegedly made by the accused after their arrests as evidence in their trial.
A police officer, detective warrant officer Ndilyowike Josef, testified that Kureva was questioned about her daughter after the body of a girl - who at that stage was not yet identified - was found in a rubbish skip in the Rhino Park area.
She was questioned after police investigators saw a surveillance camera recording showing a man and a woman walking down a street in the area at night while the man was pulling a rubbish bin on wheels, Josef said.
According to information gathered by the police, the man and woman were identified as residents of nearby flats, where they were living with Kureva.
Josef said when Kureva was questioned about who was living in the flat with her, she said it was her baby, the Nkata couple and their three children.
She also said she had two children, of which one was a daughter who had been collected by her father and was living with him in Zimbabwe, Josef said.
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When she was questioned, Kureva was not regarded as a suspect, but after the answers she had given to the police officers, she was told that the police had information that her daughter was not in Zimbabwe, but was still living with her and the Nkata family in the same flat, Josef said.
She was also told that the police suspected the girl whose body had been found in a rubbish skip was her daughter, he said.
Josef continued that Kureva stuck to her version that her daughter was with the child's father in Zimbabwe.
With the police officers suspecting she was not telling them the truth, she was arrested, and was then informed of her rights, including the right to remain silent and the right to get legal representation, Josef testified.
Another police officer, sergeant Kondjashili Shaalulange, also testified on Thursday that Kureva told police investigators her daughter was in Zimbabwe with the child's father.
Shaalulange further said that after Edward Nkata was arrested at a police roadblock between Otjiwarongo and Okahandja on 26 January 2020, he told the police he had found Akundaishe's body hanging in the garage of their flat, and because he did not know what to do he decided to dispose of the body.
Kureva's defence lawyer, Joseph Andreas, told the witnesses that according to Kureva she was informed of her daughter's death only on the day after her arrest.
The trial is scheduled to continue on 6 May.
The three accused are being held in custody.
Read the original article on Namibian.
