Roland Routh
WINDHOEK – The self-confessed killer of a 20-year-old woman in Windhoek two years ago wanted to ensure his victim died, State Advocate Cliff Lutibezi said Monday during submissions on the sentence David Soroseb, 27, is to receive in the Windhoek High Court.
Lutibezi told High Court Judge Dinnah Usiku that Soroseb initially hit Jeanet Tatamigu !Haoses with a brick, then with a hammer, then stabbed her eight times with a knife and strangled her with an electric cord before locking the room she was in to ensure she did not receive any help. According to Lutibezi, there can only be one reason for Soroseb to go to such lengths and that was to ensure the deceased did not survive the attack on her.
This, he said, can also be borne out by the fact that Soroseb afterwards attempted to commit suicide by drinking acid. Soroseb pleaded guilty to a charge of murder at the start of his trial in April this year, but he denied having assaulted !Haoses on a previous occasion.
According to the charge sheet, Soroseb assaulted !Haoses by twisting her arms and pulling her hair on February, 27, 2016. He was convicted on that charge by Judge Usiku after a short trial. During submission of mitigation of sentence, Titus Ipumbu, who is representing Soroseb on instructions of legal aid, asked the court to show mercy on Soroseb and not impose a sentence that will break him.
“The convict is still a relatively young man and a sentence in excess of 30 years will mean that he will leave prison an old man with a criminal record and be a burden on others,” he said. According to Ipumbu, a sentence of 25 years with five years suspended will be a just sentence, seeing that Soroseb expressed remorse by pleading guilty at the earliest opportunity and by writing a letter in which he apologised to the family of the deceased.
According to Ipumbu, the convict is not a danger to society who needs to be removed for a very long time and the chances of him rehabilitating are very good.
Before Ipumbu made his submissions, the State called the mother of the deceased who told the court that the death of the deceased has had a profound effect on her family.
According to her, the younger sister of the deceased cannot concentrate at school and she herself is deeply affected by the murder of her daughter. “She was my right arm, my breadwinner,” the distraught mother said, and continued: “My drinking, my eating, my electricity depended on her.”
According to her, she already forgave the accused as vengeance is not hers and she is leaving the punishment of the accused in the hands of the court.
Lutibezi further told the court the supposed remorse of the accused is just that, supposed.
According to him, neither the accused nor his relatives offered to assist the deceased’s family with the funeral arrangements or costs. They let the family of the deceased struggle on their own to bury the daughter their son killed, Lutibezi said. According to him, the confession and the guilty plea the accused relies on as indications of his remorse are not signs of contrition. He had no other choice but to plead guilty or to depose the confession, Lutibezi said, and asked the court to impose the maximum sentence of life imprisonment.
Judge Usiku indicated she will hand down sentence on Thursday.