WAD Wants Answers on Stoffels Murder

Nico Smit

20 May 2011

AN explanation why the Attorney General withdrew murder and rape charges against Junias Fillipus, the man formerly accused of raping and killing schoolgirl Magdalena Stoffels, has been demanded by Veronica de Klerk, executive director for Women’s Action for Development (WAD).

Speaking at a donation ceremony in Windhoek this week, De Klerk said that the announcement by the court that all charges against Fillipus had been withdrawn came as a surprise to WAD and the nation in general.

“What is more surprising, is that the court failed to give reasons why the charges against Fillipus had been withdrawn,” the WAD executive director said.

Stoffels was the only suspect in the murder of the late Stoffels, and spent nine and a half months in prison before the charges against him were withdrawn last Friday.

“It is however WAD’s conviction that the Attorney General owes the public an explanation on the grounds on which she decided to withdraw the charges against the accused, especially in this case, which aroused great anger and a national outrage among all sectors of society,” De Klerk said.

According to De Klerk, the withdrawal of the charges against Fillipus has taught the public a very serious lesson, “not to react to untested evidence and a deafening insistence to hand over the suspect for meting out mob justice.”

De Klerk said the withdrawal of the charges against Fillipus “presented a false victory for the real rapist and murderer and indeed for other murderers in the country”.

This could lead to an increase in similar forms of violence in the country, she said.

WAD has appealed to the police to inform the public of its ongoing investigation into the murder of Stoffels.

De Klerk further suggested that offering a “handsome reward” for information that could lead to an arrest, “would, from the public’s point of view, keep the investigation alive”.

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