The Windhoek High Court on Friday convicted a man of killing his girlfriend and mother of his children to prevent her from testifying in a rape case against him.

Judge Claudia Claasen convicted Arnold Khamseb (50) of murder for the death of his girlfriend, Bertha Gorases, by stabbing her with a knife on 24 December 2019. 

Khamseb was also found guilty of housebreaking and raping his daughter on 7 July 2018. He was on bail for the rape case when he killed Gorases. 

The court, however, acquitted him on the charge of assault with intent to do grievous bodily harm for assaulting Josipedi Goraseb by cutting him with a knife as he tried protecting the deceased. Goraseb is the brother of the deceased. 

On the murder conviction, Claasen held that despite Khamseb claiming that Gorases stabbed herself, there is no evidence supporting his version of events on that date. 

“He (Khamseb) had no probable explanation for how the deceased stabbed herself in the neck when she was falling. Nor did he provide a reasonably probable answer for how he gained possession of the knife,” said Claasen.

On the house-breaking and rape convictions, the court accepted the complainant’s version of what transpired. Additionally, Khamseb’s DNA was found in the genitalia of the complainant.

“The complainant also attested to the distinctive scar above the eye, which she felt as she touched the face of the assailant. She exclaimed ‘Oh my father’ and she has no reason to call another man her father. Collectively, it strengthens the complainant’s impression that it was her father,” said the judge.

On the assault acquittal, the court held that the State failed to prove all the elements of the offence for which Khamseb is accused.Khamseb awaits sentencing. Advocate Palmer Khumalo represented the State, while Legal Aid Lawyer Petrus Grusshaber represented Khamseb.

-msheya@nepc.com.na