Niël Terblanché
Wentzel Maasdorp, the man suspected of murdering the 40-year-old Angelique Delia Maasdorp in her flat before stealing her car last week, made his first appearance before a Windhoek magistrate.
During the court proceedings, Maasdorp was informed that he is charged with one count of murder that will be read with the Domestic Violence Act as well as a count of theft of motor vehicle.
Delia Maasdorp’s body was discovered in the lounge of her home in the Eucalyptus Apartment Complex late on Sunday by investigators of the Namibian Police. The officers also found several bloodstains on one of the couches in the lounge area of the deceased person’s home.
Her body was wrapped in blankets.
Although the results of a post-mortem examination have not been made available, it is suspected that she was murdered sometime last Thursday.
The manhunt for Wentzel Maasdorp ensued when investigating officers studied closed circuit television (CCTV) footage of the apartment complex and saw him drive away in her light blue metallic BMW late on Thursday afternoon.
According to one of the officers involved in the search for the suspect, Maasdorp drove all the way to Katima Mulilo after leaving the apartment complex in Windhoek.
The officer said that while in Katima Mulilo, the suspect was able to convince the owner of a service station to fill the stolen car with fuel without paying.
Shortly after that, he drove back in the direction of Rundu. At Divundu he picked up a person that was looking for a lift to Grootfontein.
When Maasdorp and his passenger reached Rundu, he told the other person that he needed to draw cash from the automatic teller machine at one of the service stations.
Maasdorp, however, left the passenger in the car and managed to find a lift in the direction of Grootfontein with a person, who works as a tour guide.
The Rundu Police found the car abandoned and parked at the service station on Tuesday morning.
According to the officer, Maasdorp was able to convince the tour guide to call the police and tell them that he was on his way to Outjo while he did in fact travel all the way back to Windhoek.
The officer said that the tour guide called them a few hours later and told detectives that he lied to them and that the suspect was already back in Windhoek.
After dropping a dragnet in the capital, detectives found Wentzel Maasdorp on one of the municipal lawns at an area known as Tripple J in Windhoek’s southern industrial area where he was looking for a lift to Rehoboth.
The suspect was reportedly lying on the grass, pretending to be asleep with his jacket covering his face when detectives found and arrested him.
During the court proceedings, the state prosecutor opposed the granting of bail due to the seriousness of the matter.
Other grounds for not granting bail were that he was a flight risk and that he might abscond from standing trial as well as the fact that the investigations into the murder and theft of the car were not yet completed.
The prosecutor also argued that it would not be in the public’s interest or in the interest of justice to set the suspect free on bail.
Maasdorp was informed of his right to bring a formal bail application to court before the presiding Magistrate remanded him in the custody of the Namibian Police until he must make his next court appearance on 21 August.
