Windhoek High Court Judge Naomi Shivute on Thursday convicted a 32-year-old Drimiopsis resident of kidnapping, rape and murder.
Abel Mokalabatho pleaded not guilty to the charges of rape, murder and kidnapping at the start of his trial.
He wanted to plead guilty to the charge of defeating or obstructing the course of justice for disposing of the knife, but the State did not accept the plea, as he did not admit all elements of the offence.
The prosecution charged Mokalabatho with three counts of rape, one count of kidnapping, one count of murder, and one count of obstructing the course of justice.
It was alleged by the State that on 1 and 2 August 2020, the accused and the victim were drinking together at a shebeen at Drimiopsis in the Gobabis district.
It is further alleged that when the victim left to go and use the toilet, Mokalabatho followed her and raped her.
He then forcefully took her to his house, where he committed the second and third counts of rape. The State said the victim was intoxicated, rendering her incapable of communicating her unwillingness.
On the count of murder, Mokalabatho allegedly stabbed the victim with a knife on her neck, and strangled her to death with a piece of wire.
To cover up his alleged deed, he buried the victim in a manhole, cleaned his bedroom with a mop to remove the victim’s blood, and buried the knife underneath some plants.
In her judgement, the judge found that although the accused denied the charges against him, the evidence against him is so overwhelming that his denial could not reasonably possibly be true. She further said the evidence proves beyond a reasonable doubt that he is the one who kidnapped, raped and killed the deceased.
She said that the fact that he first applied physical force by twisting the deceased’s arm before he raped her means that coercive circumstances existed.
“Again, by being forced to go to the accused’s place through the twisting of her arm and by being locked in the accused’s room, the deceased was deprived of her freedom of movement, and this amounts to kidnapping,” Judge Shivute stated and continued: “The accused raped the deceased twice in his room and once in the toilet, and when she said she was going to tell her mother of what happened, the accused stabbed her with a knife. She did not die at that stage.”
She further said to make matters worse, he used pliers to tighten the wire around her neck. And to hide his dastardly deeds, the judge said, the accused disposed of the body of the deceased in a sewer drain and buried the knife.
Judge Shivute said the accused had a direct intent to kill the deceased and acted unlawfully, wrongly and intentionally while he was executing his actions. She consequently found him guilty on all charges.
The matter has been postponed to 4 July for pre-sentencing procedures. Mokalabatho is represented by Mbanga Siyomunji on instructions of Legal Aid, and the State by Ethel Ndlovu. He remains in custody at the Windhoek Correctional Facility at the trial-awaiting section.