Windhoek
Andre Frieda Castro Dausab, the man accused of the brutal murder of his pastor-in-training girlfriend – whose throat he allegedly slit at her flat at the United Lutheran Theological Paulinum College in Pionierspark in Windhoek – denied all charges against him yesterday.
Dausab, who has already indicated to the court in pre-trial documents that he will plead not guilty due to non-pathological criminal incapacity, is disputing he was able to appreciate the wrongfulness of his actions during the commission of the offence, through his State-funded lawyer, Bronell Uirab.
This was contained in a plea explanation Uirab read to the court on behalf of Dausab at the start of his trial before Judge Naomi Shivute in the High Court yesterday.
He admitted he was in the flat of his alleged victim, 33-year-old Gofaone Motlamme on the date in question and that he was together with the deceased on February 22, 2014 at the Paulinum in Erasmus Street in Windhoek.
While he admitted that he stabbed the deceased numerous times all over her body, he said the admission is based on the fact that it was only him and the deceased in the flat and secondly on information he received about the crime after the fact.
He further admitted the identity of the deceased and that he knew her since 2010 and was involved in a romantic relationship with the deceased since 2011 until her death.
According to the plea explanation, Dausab and the deceased were involved in a quarrel, which culminated in a fight and “during the fight at the critical moment I totally lost all self-control for a certain period, because of anger, stress, fear, tension, emotional storm and a total personality disintegration (sic).”
According to Dausab he cannot completely remember what transpired when the actual stabbing took place, because everything suddenly became “dark and confusing” around him and when he came to his senses he realised that he must have stabbed the deceased.
He further said he was in shock and confused for some time after the incident and cannot remember the events as it unfolded. While he denies suffering from any mental illness, he however claimed that at the time of the commissioning of the offence he was unable to “direct” his conduct or actions in accordance with any insight into right or wrong, because of a “temporary emotional disturbance occasioned by emotional stress and emotional breakdown.”
According to Uirab, while his client will remain silent, they will base their defence on non-pathological criminal incapacity, meaning he was not aware of his surroundings at the time.
Dausab is charged with the brutal stabbing of Motlamme, who was a third-year student at Paulinum College, several times in the chest and arms before he struck the fatal blow in the neck and then slit her throat in her room at the campus in Pionierspark, Extension One on February 22, 2014.
According to the charge sheet, the deceased and Dausab were in a romantic relationship. On the Saturday of the incident the deceased and Dausab were together at her flat in Erasmus Street in Windhoek when an argument erupted between them and he stabbed her at least 25 times all over her body.
The summary of facts in the indictment indicates that after he stabbed her, Dausab “left the seriously injured and screaming deceased inside the flat” after he locked the entrance door to the flat and fled the scene.
The trial continues tomorrow.