Iuze Mukube
Mecthilde Karomo (33), who is accused of murdering her ex-lover and his girlfriend by setting them alight in a shack whilst they slept, has denied setting the house on fire.
Karomo was testifying on Tuesday before Windhoek High Court judge Claudia Claasen.
She faces two counts of murder and one count of arson and its alternative, malicious damage to property. The fire claimed the lives of two, Leonard Haupindi Kadubuli and Anastasia Ihemba Matende. The State alleges Karomo intentionally killed her ex-boyfriend and his then-alleged girlfriend by setting Kadubuli’s shack on fire on 26 December 2022.
It is also alleged that the incident occurred due to relationship issues, as on 25 December 2022, Karomo allegedly threatened Kadubuli that she would set his house on fire after an altercation between them.
Later, Karomo allegedly carried out the threat, resulting in the deaths in Windhoek’s Okahandja Park informal settlement.
Karomo told the court that she did indeed have a confrontation with the deceased, Kadubuli, the day before the incident on 25 December 2026.
She stated the physical altercation began after she apparently repeated a request by a woman, also present at the time, who asked Kadubuli to open the door of his house and that he should let her cousin out.
She testified that Kadubuli returned on Christmas Day in the company of another woman.
She also denied threatening Kadubuli that she would set the house on fire if he and his alleged girlfriend slept in his house together. She stated that on 26 December 2022, she woke up, after hearing someone shouting outside that her house was on fire.
Part of her house, from the bedroom to the kitchen was burned. She said she only became aware that Kadubuli’s house was also on fire after going outside.
After the fire brigade came, she said they informed community members who were there that two people died in the fire.
She then went back to her house, situated four metres from the deceased’s house, and started packing some items.
While at home, a woman by the name of Elizabeth, who was sitting in front of the deceased’s house, pointed at her and said, “That lady is the one who fought with Leonard.” “She was the one who burnt Leonard’s house,” she recounted.
Karomo said Elizabeth also told relatives of the deceased the same thing. After that statement was made, community members allegedly surrounded and assaulted her. She stated that the assault lasted for 20 minutes and that she sustained injuries to her arms, back and knees and bled from her ear.
She denied ever telling a councillor, Christopher Likuwa, that she burnt the house down after seeing Kadubuli bringing a woman to his house.
She further said the confession that was made to a magistrate, after her arrest, contained statements that she had never made.
In the said confession, she allegedly admitted to setting the house alight and that she did so with the impression that nobody was inside.
She said that part of the information contained there was given on the instructions of a police officer.
“I will still dispute that it was not I who set the house on fire,” she said. Karomo is represented by her legal-aid lawyer, Mbanga Siyomunji, and the State by Dominic Lisulo.
The matter was postponed to today, 12 March 2026, for continuation.
–mukubeiuze@gmail.com