Conflicting autopsy reports in murder case

Two post-mortem reports issued ten months apart on the cause of death of the late Andreas Ukandanga (41) during a fatal shooting on a farm outside Okahandja in January 2016 contained two significantly different medical findings in regard to the location of the wounds and the cause of death.

This was put to Magistrate Alexis Diergaardt yesterday by lawyer Jan Wessels, acting on behalf of the accused, Kai Rust (44) whose murder trial began at the Windhoek Regional Court in Katutura yesterday.

Rust has been charged with one count of murder and three counts of attempted murder, to which Rust has pleaded not guilty.

During the conclusion of the cross-examination of the first State witness yesterday afternoon, Wessels told the court that the first post-mortem report, issued shortly after Ukandanga's death, supported Rust's version of an accidental shooting where the deceased died from a ricochet bullet.

Wessels underlined that the first post-mortem was viewed and the results confirmed by NamPol chief pathologist Dr Paul Ludik, head of the Forensic Institute of Namibia.

According to Wessels, who quoted from the first post mortem, Ludik's report found that the wound patterns found on the left shoulder of Ukandanga indicated they were likely a result of a fragment of a ricochet bullet that after it was fired had initially hit a hard object, “probably a rock” and then struck Ukandanga, killing him.

Wessels said the first post mortem, which supported Rust's version of the accidental shooting, was never presented to the magistrate during Rust's first bail application last year, crucial information that could have helped support his client's version of events that fatal day.







Wessels said the first post mortem report confirmed his client's defence that “this was a tragic shooting accident.”







Questionable investigation



Wessels also informed the court that the defence had suspected there were issues around the handling of the case and the possible introduction of “false and new evidence” to support the case against Rust.



He said this suspicion was boosted when the defence later discovered the existence of “a second post-mortem report” which was issued 10 months after Ukandanga died, which contained vastly different post-mortem results and does not appear to have been signed by Ludik.



Wessels argued that this second and new report showed “the way in which this case was investigated. The entry wound became the exit wound.”



The second post mortem, according to Wessels indicated that the deceased was wounded on the right side behind the neck, and not on the left shoulder as in the first report.



He said these issues will be dealt with in more depth later during the trial.



Wessels underlined however that “my client denies that he ever fired a shot at any person with the intention to kill, to injure, to hurt. He denies that.”







Shots heard, not seen



Wessels also argued that the three counts of attempted murder were supported by witness statements from the three poachers who had been with Ukandanga on the day of the shooting, but were only made more than seven months after the incident.



“Statements to that effect were obtained only long after the bail application, between seven and nine months after the bail application,” he said.



Yesterday, the first state witness at the trial, Ndara Ndjamba, who later pleaded guilty to poaching on Rust's farm that day, admitted that he and his friends had been invited to the farm by a farm worker and family friend, Frans Ndjamba, who still works at the farm.



During cross examination by the defence of Ndjamba, he told the court that he could not say if Rust was aiming directly “at my friend or the dog. I just saw him fall.”



He told prosecutor Filemon Nyau earlier in the day that he and his friends had been working on the Kudu carcass when they heard a gunshot and Ukandanga suddenly fell.



All three men jumped up and ran two in one direction and Ndjamba in another to flee the shooter.



Ndjamba told the court during his chief testimony that when he fled he “saw bullets bouncing in the sand as he fired at us.”



Wessels informed the court that in the first police statement, obtained shortly after the incident, Ndjamba and the others did not make this allegation.



Quoting from the original statement, Ndjamba had told the police initially that “as I was running I heard shots being fired behind me.”



In the second witness statement he signed, nine months later, Ndjamba told police “later shots were also fired after us as we were running.”



Wessels argued that Ndjamba was lying, and that in fact, as per Frans Ndjamba's witness statement, Rust had initially not known there were people behind a rock skinning the Kudu and had aimed at a spot close to a hunting dog, wanting to scare the animal away. That was the bullet that accidentally killed Ukandanga, Wessels argued yesterday.



He said the next two bullets were warning shots Rust fired into the air, as per the statement by Frans Ndjamba, after he suddenly saw the three poachers jump up and flee the scene. He and Frans Ndjamba had not seen them at first, as they were obscured by a rock and bushes and trees, Wessels said yesterday.



The last bullet was aimed again at the dog, and hit its target.



The state is not disputing that only four shots were fired that day.

JANA-MARI SMITH