Iuze Mukube
Following persistent requests for her trial to begin and be finalised, Vapeni Lucia Boois, a former police officer accused of murdering her one-year-old child, will finally stand trial in August.
Windhoek High Court Judge Philanda Christiaan this week scheduled the trial to commence on 11 August 2025.
The 36-year-old woman is charged with murder and defeating the course of justice about the death of her infant, Amare Boois, on 21 January 2023 in Bethanie in the //Kharas region.
The accused has been vocal in court since November last year, when she told then-Deputy Judge President Hosea Angula that the State should finalise her case.
She, at the time, stated she refused to be indicted, and expressed being tired and that her case needed to be resolved because it was causing her health and mental problems.
Earlier this year, Boois again expressed frustration over delays in finalising her trial, which, however, was delayed after she contradicted a psychiatric report presented by the State.
The report indicated that she was fit to stand trial, but should be held accountable for diminished responsibility, as the report also indicated she had borderline personality disorder, combined with persistent depressive disorder.
However, she rejected the evaluation, and was adamant she was not mentally disturbed.
In the report, the accused admitted to stabbing her baby in the neck and abdomen with a knife at least 15 times, and then buried his body in a shallow grave in a sandy riverbed in the Bethanie area.
She further admitted, at the time, that she wanted to end the suffering and pain of this world by ending the life of her baby and then herself.
The report indicated that at the time she allegedly murdered her son, “she was overwhelmed and depressed,” but still able to appreciate the wrongfulness and consequences of her actions, although she had diminished responsibility for her deeds.
Hence, on 22 April 2025, Christiaan was satisfied that although the accused was suffering from a mental disorder at the time of the commission of the offence, such a condition did not render her incapable of appreciating the wrongfulness of her conduct, or of acting in accordance with that appreciation.
Christiaan had confirmed that Boois was fit to stand trial, possessing the capacity to understand the proceedings, and to properly instruct counsel in her defence, and had postponed the matter to 20 May for fixing of a trial date.
Boois, who will represent herself, remains in custody pending the start of her trial.