WINDHOEK – A former resident of Walvis Bay who drove to the North to commit two murders was sentenced to two life sentences in the Oshakati High Court by Judge Herman January on Friday last week. It was however ordered he should serve the sentences concurrently.
According to Judge January, it was recently confirmed in the Namibia Supreme Court that life imprisonment is the harshest sentence that can be doled out in Namibia and he had no hesitation to impose such sentence on Matias Kashindinge Kalunga, 48.
He was convicted by the judge in October last year on one count of murder with direct intent read with the Combating of Domestic Violence Act and one count of murder with direct intent. He was convicted of killing his wife, Selma Imbili (30), and her alleged lover, Matheus Yuye (39) at Omafo in the Ohangwena Region on the evening of Valentine’s Day in 2013.
During the judgement, the judge said Kalunga fired the shots at them with the intention of killing them. According to Judge January, while Kalunga extended an apology to the court, family of the deceased, his family and the whole of Namibia in his view he only paid lip-service with his apologies and did not show genuine remorse.
The judge noted murder is one of the most serious crimes and that any person’s life is protected by the Namibian Constitution. “The evidence shows that the crimes were committed in a cold-blooded executional manner,” said Judge January. “The accused shot his wife six times, all shots directed to the head and face of this deceased. I accepted the evidence of the pathologist that the first shot went through the hand of the deceased. She had her hand in a defensive position before the shot was fired. One can just imagine the fear and agony she must have suffered before her execution by a person she once loved. The male deceased was shot three times also into vulnerable arts of the body,” he said.
The judge said collectively, the accused emptied a magazine with eight bullets into the victims. “The attack on the deceased persons was heinous, savage and brutal,” he emphasized, adding, ‘‘this court has on numerous occasions condemned violent behavior especially on women and children in domestic settings.”
Judge January further in his view, said the accused is a danger to society and that society, his own relatives and children deserve protection from him and any person who commit crimes with such brutality and as cold bloodedly as in this case
In the event, he said, the imposition of life imprisonment is justified.
Marcia Amupolo represented Kalunga during his trial on instructions of Legal Aid and
Deputy Prosecutor general Lucius Matota represented the state.