Roland Routh
Windhoek-“In view of the direct evidence and the whole body of credible evidence placed before court, which has not been displaced during cross-examination, I am satisfied that the prosecution has proved the allegations it preferred against the accused beyond a reasonable doubt,” Judge Alfred Siboleka said on Friday when he convicted Edmund Jagger of murder with direct intent.
Jagger was found guilty of the brutal murder of Renelda Alien Oamite Hoeses, who was 22 at the time of her death, by stabbing her multiple times in front of her shack at Otjiwarongo during the early hours of Saturday, March 2, 2013.
According to the doctor who performed the autopsy, any one of the 18 stab wounds the accused inflicted upon the upper part of the deceased’s body was fatal.
One of the state witnesses who saw the stabbing told the court that Jagger was sitting on top of the deceased, making up and down movements with a knife clutched in his right hand, Judge Siboleka recounted.
“The up and down right hand movements the accused was doing were in fact stabbing blows since she did not make any movements from there afterwards,” the judge stated.
According to the judge, when the witness, Antonius Ameb, who is a neighbour, saw the stabbing, it had already started and was still in progress.
“He continued to view that attack up to the stage when the accused got up from the deceased’s body, took his son and fled the scene by running away.”
He continued: “The deceased remained lying on her stomach in the same way the accused had left her after the stabbing. I am therefore satisfied that there was no other assailant who inflicted harm on the deceased other than the accused himself.”
The judge said the evidence of Ameb is “wholly in accord with the accused’s own reply to the State’s pre-trial memorandum dated June 14, 2015 in which he stated that on the day in question he came to the deceased’s residence where a quarrel erupted between them and that he stabbed her because she provoked him”.
The judge further said the wording on notes found in the accused’s room by police officers who went there after the stabbing and found him hanging from a wire tied to the roof, in the words of the officers “appeared to have been addressed to a person he loved very much such as a lady”.
Jagger claimed in his testimony he addressed the notes to his son, but the judge said that in his considered view the notes were directed to his deceased girlfriend.
“They are an expression of grief to what has happened. The accused appeared to have deeply reflected on the past happy moments that he shared with the deceased while she was still alive.”
According to Judge Siboleka the evidence by Jagger that he did not stab anyone and that the bloodstains found on his shorts came from his bleeding finger, is false beyond reasonable doubt.
“It has been displaced by the prosecution witnesses and in particular the eyewitness Antonius Ameb, who saw him sitting on top of the deceased stabbing her,” he added.
The matter was postponed to next week Friday for dates to be set for the pre-sentencing proceedings.
Joshua Kaumbi represented Jagger in his trial and Deputy Prosecutor General Karin Esterhuizen prosecuted.