Windhoek
Rehoboth resident Bryan Rickerts, 37, accused of stabbing a man to death at the town, yesterday said he could not recall having stabbed the deceased because he was “too drunk”.
Rickerts told Judge Christi Liebenberg he could not remember stabbing Shaun Roderick Beukes because “I was too drunk to know what happened during the time of the alleged stabbing … and did not know what I was doing.”
According to Rickerts he consumed different types of liquor since early the morning of February 07, 2014, among others homebrewed beer, Windhoek Lager, 750ml Monis Granada and five litres of Overmeer wine.
He informed the court through a plea explanation read by his state-funded lawyer, Milton Engelbrecht, that after he consumed all that alcohol he suffered a blackout and came to when his friend ‘Elton’ woke him up and told him he had stabbed the deceased.
“But this was so unreal that I just slept further until he came back for a second time and told me that Shaun, the deceased, was dead,” he said.
He denied that he planned the attack and had the intent to commit murder as is alleged in the indictment.
On the second count of defeating or obstructing, or attempting to defeat or obstruct the course of justice, he denied all allegations and put the State to prove the charge.
Rickerts is charged with stabbing Beukes to death at a shebeen in Rehoboth’s Block E residential area on February 07, 2014.
He further faces a charge of defeating or obstructing or attempting to defeat or obstruct the course of justice for allegedly hiding two knives behind a corrugated iron shack and threatening state witnesses Albertus Josef Sneiders, Brenda van Wyk and Helga van Wyk to kill them by stabbing.
Yesterday two state witnesses narrated the events of that fateful day almost identically.
According to Helga van Wyk and Brenda van Wyk (no relation) they were at Tina’s Tafel shebeen enjoying some homebrew when the accused joined them and asked to share in their beverages.
After they refused, he proceeded to remove two knives from the sleeves of his jacket and started to sharpen the blades against each other and told them he was looking for some strong men to stab.
When the deceased who was in a drunken stupour nearby woke up the accused suddenly walked up to him and said ‘you are one of those strong men’ and stabbed the deceased once whereafter he ran away, they testified.
Both were adamant Rickerts was not “that drunk” and was walking and talking “normally”.
During cross-examination Helga told the court Rickerts sat on his haunches in front of them when he asked for some homebrew and that he was not staggering like one would expect a drunken person to do.
“He may have been a little drunk but he knew what he was doing,” she responded when State Advocate Jack Eixab wanted to know what she thought of the version of the accused that he was too drunk to know what he was doing at the time.
The trial continues today with Brenda is to be cross-examined.