Roland Routh
Windhoek-A man accused of killing his girlfriend and her mother in the Ovitoto area in June 2009 was convicted as charged yesterday in the Windhoek Prison High Court by Judge Alfred Siboleka.
Julius ‘Namab’ Dausab was convicted of murder with direct intent for the shooting dead of Paulina Kenamuni, 28, and of indirect murder for the shooting dead of Elfrieda Kenamuni, 44. Both women were killed each with a shot from a .308 hunting rifle on June 03, 2009 at farm Okatuo in the Okahandja District.
Dausab was further convicted of possession of a firearm without a licence and of possessing ammunition without a licence.
Judge Siboleka rejected Dausab’s claim that an unknown person driving a white sedan was responsible for the murders and called it a fabrication.
According to Judge Siboleka, the ballistics evidence confirmed the shots that killed the women were fired from the rifle Dausab borrowed from a friend, Gerson Kheimseb, in order ‘to shoot a stray donkey’. He further said that it was clear from the evidence that there was no donkey to be shot, but that Dausab was in fact referring to the two women.
The judge further made reference to the testimony of Ndjambi Simson Kavendja, the boyfriend of Elfrieda. According to Judge Siboleka the evidence of Kavendja was credible and forthcoming unlike the evidence of the accused, which was evasive and meant to confuse.
He said the evidence of Kavendja points the finger of guilt for the two murders straight at Dausab. According to the judge he found the evidence of Kavendja very credible.
“He had all the means to even tell the court that he saw the accused shooting the victims, but he simply said he didn’t observe or hear the sound of the first gunshot that killed the accused’s girlfriend. He was fast asleep, tired from the drawing of water using a donkey cart. Only when he was awoken by his deceased girlfriend Elfriede Kenamune, did he begin to realize there were problems on his residence. I am satisfied with the account of Simon Kavendja, from the moment he woke up, up to the end of the incident.
His account is coherent, to the point, and credible in all material respects,” Judge Siboleka stressed.
He further rejected the existence of a second car at the crime scene as pure hogwash.
According to the judge, the terrain at the crime scene was sandy and it is improbable that the car would not leave tracks. However, the judge said, no tracks of the unknown vehicle were observed by all the people that were at the crime scene, including the police officers and Kavendja, the owner of the residence where the incident took place.
He also mentioned the fact that should such a person exist and had verbal exchanges with the deceased persons as Dausab claimed, then obviously Kavendja should have been aware of it which was not the case.
Surely, the judge said, Elfriede who was in bed already could not have had such verbal exchanges without waking up, alerting, and seeking help from, her boyfriend.
It is equally improbable that Kavendja would have failed to be alerted or awoken by all the noise of the verbal exchange from the start to the end.
According to Judge Siboleka, it is his considered view the prosecution witnesses inferentially point to the accused as the person who gunned down the two ladies at the scene in cold blood and that the inferences was proven beyond a reasonable doubt.
Dausab’s bail was cancelled and he was remanded in custody at the Windhoek Correctional Facility’s section for trial-awaiting prisoners. He is represented by Bradley Basson on instructions from legal aid and the State was represented by Advocate Erich Moyo.
The case will resume on February 27 for sentencing procedures.