WINDHOEK – A 32-year-old woman has been slapped with 10 years imprisonment for the killing of his live-in boyfriend of seven years in 2015.
Magistrate Ileni Velikoshi sentenced Gloria Haikaere to 15 years imprisonment of which five years were suspended for a period of five years, on condition that she is not convicted of assault with intent to do grievous bodily harm during the period of suspension.
The court returned the N$4 000 bail money back to the depositor.
Haikaere was found guilty on Wednesday on a charge of murder read with the provisions of Domestic Violence Act for the death of her boyfriend John Ngutjinazo.
Ngutjinazo died from a single stab wound to the chest on 2 July 2015 at the former couple’s shared home in Herero location, Katutura.
During the trial, a 15-year-old witness took the stand.
He testified that at the time of the incident, he was 11 years old. According to his testimony, Haikaere and the deceased on the date in question were in an argument and the deceased was assaulting Haikaere with an electrical cord.
He allegedly witnessed the incident as he was peeping through the window.
“The accused was beating back. Then they went outside the house. After that the accused came back in the house and took a knife and went back,” explained the minor. The witness explained that Haikaere came back to the house looking for his mother who was not home at the time.
“I did not see the stabbing but the man was lying on the ground with a wound on his head,” testified the witness.
Haikaere, who took a no guilty plea to the charge, testified that she was acting in self-defence. She described their on-and-off relationship with the victim as violent for nearly seven years. She explained that the violence was a result of them consuming alcohol. The day before the tragic incident, the couple allegedly broke up after the deceased assaulted Haikaere.
“When I told him that I was no longer interested in him, he told me that he was going to kill me,” said Haikaere.
Fearing for her life, she allegedly decided not to sleep at their shared home.
On the day of the incident, the deceased contacted Haikaere in order to get his belongings from their home.
She allegedly handed the deceased his belongings in the presence of a friend who later left.
Seeing that the friend had left the house, the deceased allegedly went back to their home and started assaulting Haikaere with an electric cord.
“I told him to stop assaulting me but he told me that he was going to assault and kill me. That is when I picked up the knife and stabbed him,” narrated Haikaere.