Iuze Mukube

A father, who admitted that he held his two-year-old son by the legs and proceeded to slam his head on a concrete pillar situated next to a railway line in Otavi in 2023, was sentenced to a period of 25-years imprisonment yesterday.

Thomas Muronga (30) was convicted on 18 November 2025 on charges of murder, assault by threat and an alternative charge of assault on a member of the force in the execution of his duties or functions. He tendered a plea of guilty to all the charges.

Muronga admitted that he unlawfully and intentionally murdered his biological son, Jason Muronga, on 25 August 2023 in Otavi.

He also admitted that prior to taking the child, he unlawfully grabbed the mother of the deceased, Juliena Gamibes, the victim in the second count, and threatened to kill her while holding a knife. He further admitted that perpetrated an assault on Sergeant German Vanamale, a member of the police force, by placing an open knife in his pocket when he knew that he would be searched by the sergeant.

Gamibes testified that the accused apologised for the deed and she forgave him but that she would forever be traumatised and reminded of the death because it occurred on the day after her birthday. In her ruling, Windhoek High Court Judge Claudia Claasen stated that the mother of the deceased had terminated a five-year relationship with Muronga in June or July of that year when she learned that he impregnated a relative of hers.

She stated that the act occurred because of the termination of the relationship and the accused who did not want to accept the termination of that relationship, took out his vengeance on the deceased.

“Murder is one of the most serious offences in this country, and while murder of any sort is horrendous, it is aggravated when it is an unnatural death caused by a parent,” she stated.

She added that the brain damage to the child points out that the child was defenceless while facing the act by his father and the act was brutal and inhumane and formed no basis at all.

She added that for men who do not easily accept the end of their relationship, the court is duty bound to warn them that, they must accept that just as a relationship commence, it can end and they must realise that by now.

Although the counsel for the accused hinted that the accused was moved and angered when he was told by Gamibes that the child was not his, this version was not included in his plea nor confronted to the mother during cross-examination, stated Claasen.

Therefore, this statement was not afforded any consideration. She sentenced him to 25-years imprisonment for murder, 18-months for assault by threat, and another 18-months for assaulting a member of the police force. She ordered that the sentence in the second and third count will run concurrently with the murder count. -mukubeiuze@gmail.com

Photo: Heather Erdmann