WINDHOEK – A Goreangab Dam informal settlement resident accused of stabbing his former girlfriend seven times with a knife has denied any wrongdoing in the Windhoek High Court before Judge Naomi Shivute.
Richard Bethuel Goaseb, 37, entered a plea of not guilty, but did not provide any plea explanation and just said his defense will become apparent during the trial.
His Legal Aid lawyer, Vincent Lutibezi has however through cross-examination of State witnesses indicated that Goaseb’s defense is a blank denial that he was not in the house he and the deceased used to share or that he was the one who stabbed her.
So far, the court has heard that the relationship between Goaseb and the deceased was troublesome to the extent that elders had to intervene on a regular basis.
According to the State, Goaseb killed Magdalena Swartbooi with whom he was in a domestic relationship and has children with.
He is facing charges of housebreaking with the intent to murder and murder read with the provisions of the Domestic Violence Act.
It is alleged that during the evening of April 13, 2016 in the Goreangab location, Goaseb arrived at the house of the deceased armed with a knife where upon he kicked open the front door and rushed into the bedroom where the deceased was lying on the bed. He then proceeded to stab her seven times all over her body where after he carried the lifeless body of the deceased to the living room and then fled the scene.
The deceased died on the scene due to injuries sustained during the stabbing.
The lifeless body of the deceased was discovered by her younger sister who resided close to her. The sister, Precious Swartbooi, testified yesterday that she was always called whenever her sister and Goaseb would argue or fight and she would normally separate them. She further told the court that the fights would always be because of jealousy on the part of the accused.
“Every time a male person would walk by and speak to the deceased, the accused would get upset and started arguing with the deceased,” she informed the court.
She also testified that prior to the incident, the deceased and Goaseb went to a farm after he promised her that he secured work for her there, but they returned shortly when it did pan out. Upon their arrival back in Windhoek, the deceased received a SMS from a certain “Randall” who also worked at the same farm as Goaseb and an argument erupted between them.
The next day, the witness said, a meeting was held with the elders where it was decided that Goaseb must move out of the common home since they were no longer together.
However, she said, during that day Goaseb sent her sister a sms in which he threatened that he will kill her and burn her body and burn her (sister) out too.
This prompted them to go to the police station to lay a charge, but the police never followed up the complaint, the witness narrated.
The trial is continuing and Goaseb is free on bail.
The State is represented by Deputy Prosecutor General Karin Esterhuizen.