Murder accused's plea implicates co-accused – lawyer

The boyfriend of a woman charged with planning to murder her husband wants to plead guilty to three of the four charges he is facing, his lawyer has told the Windhoek High Court. Boris Isaacks told judge Christie Liebenberg his instructions from his client, Rhyno du Preez, were to submit a plea of guilty on the counts of murder, conspiracy to commit murder and defeating or obstructing the course of justice, or attempting to defeat or obstruct the course of justice. He plans to plead not guilty to a charge of robbery with aggravating circumstances. The Namibian reports that the plea is expected to drive a wedge between Du Preez and his co-accused, Rachel Rittmann, whose husband Rudolph was killed near Windhoek four years ago. Defence lawyer Hipura Ujaha, who is representing Rittmann, said Du Preez's plea explanation ‘extensively implicates’ his client.