WINDHOEK – A Gobabis man who admitted to stabbing the mother of his five children, at least 16 times with a knife because he suspected her of having an affair with a taxi driver, was convicted of murder with direct intent yesterday morning by Windhoek High Court Judge Dinnah Usiku on his own admission.
The High Court situated at the Windhoek Correctional Facility convicted Jacob Hoxobeb who however denied he tried to chop her with an axe just mere minutes before he managed to kill her and pleaded not guilty to a charge of assault by threat.
State Advocate Ethel Ndlovu accepted the guilty plea and proceeded to call witnesses of the assault charge.
Hoxobeb was charged with the murder of Anastancia Goagoses by stabbing her several times on her chest area on December 5, 2016 at Kanaan Location in Gobabis causing her to die on the scene.
According to the state, the deceased was assisted by members of the Gobabis Police to remove her belongings from the residence she shared with Hoxobeb the day before the incident and the next day Hoxobeb went to the residence of the deceased’s armed with a knife.
When he arrived there, he grabbed an axe and threatened to chop the deceased, but a bystander managed to grab the axe from him and he then insisted that the deceased accompany him to his residence. When she refused he took out the knife and stabbed her to death.
According to a plea explanation read into the record by Milton Engelbrecht, the state funded lawyer of Hoxobeb, he suspected the deceased – with whom he has three children – was involved in a relationship with an unknown taxi driver, who came at their residence on December 4, 2016 and she accompanied him which made him very jealous.
The next day, December 5, he was with the deceased who was under the influence of liquor and she started insulting him and using vulgar language towards his parents, Hoxobeb said.
He went on that he asked her to stop using such language towards his parents, but she just carried on.
He said he then went to his younger sister’s residence and while he was drinking water, he was thinking of the insults and her behaviours of the previous night and he became very angry that he took the knife from the table and stabbed her. “While I was busy stabbing her, I was blinded by anger that I don’t know how many times I stabbed the deceased on her chest which is the sensitive part of the body (sic),” Hoxobeb said and continued: I was consumed by anger and failed to control my anger. “My anger overwhelmed me to such an extent that I committed this horrific and cruel act. Today I sit with regret and wish I could take back my actions,” he testified before the High Court.
He further said he is responsible for having robbed the deceased of her life and their children of their mother in such a violent and cruel manner and because of his actions, his children has also lost a father because he will spend time in jail and will not be able to care for them.
Hoxobeb further said he is truly regretful and sorry for his actions and will accept whatever punishment the court decides to impose on him.