A man who admitted in the Swakopmund Magistrate's Court a year ago that he had killed his elderly employer has had a change of heart since his case was transferred to the Windhoek High Court.
Unaaro Mbemukenga (26) will be denying guilt on charges of murder and robbery with aggravating circumstances during his trial, his defence lawyer, Mbanga Siyomunji, has stated in pre-trial documentation filed at the High Court.
Mbemukenga was informed during a pre-trial hearing before judge Christie Liebenberg last week that his trial is scheduled to take place from 10 to 21 June next year. Before that, he has to attend another pre-trial hearing in the High Court on 20 February.
Mbemukenga is charged with having murdered and robbed his employer, Manfred Karl Hartmann (78), at Swakopmund on 17 August last year.
The state is alleging that Mbemukenga killed Hartmann, who had employed him as a gardener, by striking him with a brick in the head, and thereafter tying Hartmann's hands and tying an electrical cable around his neck.
Mbemukenga allegedly also hanged Hartmann from the cable tied around his neck, before locking Hartmann in an outside toilet at his house, where the killing took place.
The prosecution is alleging further that Mbemukenga robbed Hartmann by stealing goods including a laptop computer, two cellphones, N$1 500 in cash, clothes and bedding before he left Hartmann's house. Mbemukenga was arrested at Outjo a day after Hartmann had been killed.
He pleaded guilty to a charge of murder during an appearance in the Swakopmund Magistrate's Court on 25 August last year.
Mbemukenga told the presiding magistrate he had struck Hartmann in the head with a brick, tied his arms and also tied a rope around his neck, before he took a bag of clothes, a laptop and a cellphone from Hartmann's house.
The Namibian reported at the time that when asked why he had done that, Mbemukenga answered: "I don't know why, or what was going on in my head at the time."
Mbemukenga was remanded in custody while awaiting the start of his trial.
