Walvis Bay siblings sentenced

Walvis Bay siblings,Azaan Madisia (31) and Steven Mulundu (25) were sentenced to six and four years in prison respectively, in the Windhoek HighCourtonTuesday,13June.

In a judgement, delivered on 16 May this year, Windhoek High Court Judge, Christie Liebenberg found both siblings Madisia and Mulundu guilty of impeding and obstructing the course of justice by attempting to conceal Shanon Wasserfall's death whist Madisia was convicted on two counts of fraud Judge Christie Liebenberg sentenced Madisia to eight years with two years suspended, resulting in an effective six years of imprisonment on a charge of Defeating and/or Obstructing the Course of Justice, and two counts of insurance fraud, whilst Mulundu who was also found guilty of defeating or obstructing the course ofjustice,wassentencedto sixyears,ofwhichtwoare suspended, resulting in an effective four years of imprisonment The two yearsofbothMadisia'sand Mulundu's sentences were suspended since they had both already been in custody for more than two years. Judge Liebenberg foundthattheStatedidnot prove beyond a reasonable doubtthatMadisiaandMulunduwereculpableforthe death of Wasserfall. The investigations traced the textmessagebacktoMadisa, who was also the one who reported that Wasserfallwentmissing,andatthe sameallegedlytookpartin some of the searches conducted to find her Madisa was the number one suspect implicated in the disappearance of Wasserfallandherhalf-brother, Mulundu, was arrested in November 2020 after he surrendered himself to the police, confessing that he had helped Madisia to dispose of Shannon's body “Both the accused pleaded notguiltytothemurderand robberychargesandtendered pleas of guilty on the charge of defeating or obstructing the course of justice. Despite making substantiveadmissionsintheir respective plea explanations, the state did not acceptthepleasandelected toleadevidenceinproving theallegationssetoutinthe charge.Withregardstothe fraudchargesagainstaccused, the state accepted her plea of guilty on the main charge of both counts, as tendered,”thejudgesaid.

Judge Liebenberg found thereisareasonablepossibility that Madisia's version about the events that resulted in the death of Wasserfall on 10 April 2020couldbetrue,andthat Madisia was not liable for Wasserfall's death The judge stated in his judgement that state relied entirelyonthefalsestatements by the accused when submitting that their actions are indicative of their unlawful killing of the deceasedwhichmaybeinferredincircumstanceswhere the cause of death is unknown. However, on their own admission, the judge convictedbothonacharge of defeating the course of justice and Madisia alone ontwocountsoffraud.

Judge Liebenberg found that should Madisia's evidence be rejected as false, thentheState's casewould be plunged into falsehood and noted that while her evidence was not truthful and reliable in all respects, itistheonlyversionthatis before Court “Despite shortcomings in the evidence of accused one, her versionofeventsthatledto the death of the deceased stands unrefuted,” Liebenbergstated.

The judge said, “Based on all the evidence adduced, theversionofMadisiaasto what led to the victim's death is reasonably possiblytrueandheractionsare notfoundculpable.”