The trial of a Gobabis resident who is charged with murdering another woman in exactly the same manner as in a previous murder he was convicted and sentenced for is set to start on 4 August in the High Court.
Windhoek High Court judge Claudia Claasen made the announcement yesterday when the matter was due to start, but because of the prison lockdown, could not continue.
Petrus Hoxobeb (57) was due to plead to charges of murder and assault over the fatal stabbing of Josephine Afrikaner at a shebeen in Freedom Square informal settlement in Gobabis during the evening hours of Sunday 14 July 2019. It is alleged that he killed the deceased by stabbing her with a knife at least nine times and threatened to stab a witness that observed the murder.
According to the indictment, Hoxobeb and the deceased were involved in a relationship sometime prior to her death but were no longer involved at the time of the incident. During the evening of 14 July 2019, the deceased was socialising with some of her friends at a shebeen. The deceased left the shebeen to go and relieve herself outside and was accompanied by Esmie Thomelo, who is the complainant in the charge of assault by threat, Hoxobeb is also facing.
It is further alleged that Hoxobeb followed them armed with a knife and pounced on the squatting Afrikaner and stabbed her. When Thomelo wanted to intervene, he threatened to stab her with the knife he was still wielding. The deceased died on the spot due to blood loss caused by stab wounds to the heart and lungs. Hoxobeb then fled the scene and was arrested while hiding in a mountainous area in the Gobabis district.
Hoxobeb was released from custody on parole on a previous murder conviction in 2008, after serving 13 years of a 17-year sentence. According to the summary of substantial facts on the previous murder, he also stabbed his victim multiple times while she was relieving herself in the bushes.
He remains in custody after Windhoek High Court judge Naomi Shivute dismissed the bail application he brought earlier this year. In her ruling, Judge Shivute said that there is a real possibility that Hoxobeb who was released from custody on parole on the previous murder conviction will re-offend if released on bail pending his trial on another murder charge.
According to the judge, the State appears to have a strong prima facie case against Hoxobeb and therefore, it is not in the interest of the public or the administration of justice to release him on bail.
The judge further said that it is common cause that Hoxobeb has two previous convictions, one for murder and one for assault with intent to cause grievous bodily harm. This, she said was evidence that Hoxobeb is a violent person with no respect for human life or the law.
Hoxobeb is represented by Eliaser Shiikwa on instructions of legal aid and the State by Solomon Kanyemba.