A Gobabis resident, accused of killing his romantic partner during sexual intercourse, was last week found guilty of murder without intent to kill by Windhoek High Court judge Dinnah Usiku.
According to the judge, the State did not prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Petrus Abusema (29) had intended to kill Katrina Hendrik during the early morning hours of Saturday, 18 July 2020, but that he must have foreseen his actions could cause her death.
According to the summary of substantial facts, the accused and the victim were in an intimate relationship while he was also in a relationship with another woman at the same time.
During the night in question, he visited her at her shack in Kanaan Location in Gobabis and had intercourse with her.
An argument erupted between them, and he allegedly strangled Hendrik, or in another way blocked her airways, causing her to die on the scene due to cardiopulmonary arrest by asphyxia, whereafter he left the scene.
The judge reasoned that where the evidence is circumstantial at best, a court must not consider every component in the body of evidence separately and individually in considering what weight should be accorded to it.
“It is the cumulative effect of all the evidence together that has to be considered when deciding whether an accused’s guilt has been proven beyond a reasonable doubt. In other words, doubt about one aspect of the evidence led in a trial may arise when that aspect is viewed in isolation, but those doubts may be set at rest when it is evaluated again together with all the other available evidence,” the judge stated.
She continued: “A court does not base its conclusion whether to convict or to acquit on only one part of the evidence. What needs to be borne in mind, however, is that the conclusion which is reached must account for all the evidence. Some of the evidence might be found to be false, or it might be found to be unreliable and some might be found to be only possibly true or unreliable, but none of it may simply be ignored”.
In this case, the judge said, the accused admitted to having held the victim on her neck – a vulnerable part of the body.
His conduct of strangling the victim, leading to the interruption of the respiratory system, caused her death, the judge found.
However, she said, whereas there appears to be no direct evidence suggesting the accused had the direct intention to cause the victim’s death, he ought to have foreseen or to have anticipated the potential or actual result of his actions.
Abusema was represented by Legal Aid lawyer Eliaser Shakwa and the State by Fillemon Nyau.
He remains in custody at the sections for trial awaiting inmates at the Windhoek Correctional Facility and will return to court on 10 November for pre-sentencing procedures. – rrouth@nepc.com.na