Accused says fatal shooting was not deliberate

A former security company employee accused of murdering a colleague while transporting cash from northern Namibia to Windhoek told a police officer after his arrest that the fatal shooting was not deliberate. In a statement made after his arrest, murder and armed robbery accused Teodor Shipanga (49) said the shooting that claimed the life of one of his colleagues, Shain van Wyk (22) , on 11 November 2011 took place while he and Van Wyk were fighting over a shotgun. This is according to a statement attributed to Shipanga about which detective chief inspector Felix Ndikoma testified during Shipanga’s trial before judge Eileen Rakow in the Windhoek High Court yesterday. Ndikoma told the court he recorded a statement by Shipanga on 13 November 2011. Shipanga, however, denied yesterday that he made a statement to Ndikoma, who disputed his denial.

Ndikoma recorded that Shipanga started his statement by saying: “I wish to state hereby that the murder was not committed deliberately. ” Shipanga said while he and Van Wyk were driving from Otjiwarongo to Okahandja, Van Wyk demanded that he should be allowed to drive the cash-in-transit vehicle in which they were travelling and which was being driven by Shipanga. “I refused to give him to drive, but as he was forcing me I then took the firearm in order to scare him,” Shipanga said, according to the statement. “When he saw me holding the firearm, he grabbed the firearm and then the two of us were fighting over the firearm and then in the process the shot went off,” Shipanga related. Ndikoma testified that he also asked Shipanga about the other charges, in addition to a count of murder, on which he was arrested. He said Shipanga answered him: “I got frightened due to the death of my crewman [Van Wyk] and because of that I did…