Windhoek
Thirty-year-old Trougoth ‘Tourob’ Nanub on Monday pleaded not guilty to a charge of murder in the Windhoek High Court and put the State to prove each and every allegation against him.
Nanub’s state-funded lawyer Milton Engelbrecht confirmed the plea and informed Judge Alfred Siboleka that his client will make use of his right to remain silent and not submit a plea explanation.
Nanub is accused of killing his ex-girlfriend by stabbing her several times with a knife at Okombahe settlement in the Omaruru district on October 09, 2012.
According to the summary of substantial facts in the indictment, the accused who was involved in an intimate relationship with the deceased, Cheroline Dausas, 28, called the victim while she was walking with her new boyfriend to her mother’s house during that evening.
When she went to him, he started to beat her and she ran away from him, it is stated.
Nanub then gave chase and when he caught up with the deceased, he stabbed her several times in her neck and chest and thereafter ran away to his father’s house, the indictment reads.
The victim was rushed to a nearby clinic, but died as a result of the injuries sustained in the stabbing, the State alleges.
The doctor who performed the autopsy on the deceased, Sergei Strojev, yesterday testified that he found deep “penetrative” stab wounds when he performed the autopsy.
He described one stab wound to the right side of the deceased’s neck as very deep, about 15 to 18mm, which penetrated the larynx. However, he said, the wounds which probably caused the death of the deceased was one in the left side of the chest of about 25cm deep and 10cm wide and another one to the right chest of about 8cm deep.
Both the stab wounds were penetrative and punctured both lungs causing collapse of the lungs.
According to Strojev, he found about one litre of spilled blood in the left chest cavity of Dausas and another 350ml in the right cavity, while she would have lost most of her blood through the wounds she sustained. He told the court that an average person has about four litres of blood.
The investigating Officer, Detective Warrant-Officer Simpson Nghiteeka informed the court that he was called to Okombahe from his duty station at Omatjete to attend to the incident.
When he arrived at the settlement he found the accused at the clinic under guard of the Okombahe police.
After he took the accused to the Okombahe police station, he went back to the clinic to interview the nurses and look at the body of the deceased. After that he returned to the police station where he advised Nanub of his rights and Nanub then offered to show him where he hid the murder weapon at his father’s place, Nghiteeka stated.
The next morning, he said, he went with Nanub to his father’s place and Nanub showed him where he buried the knife, a silver knife with a black handle and a blade at least 20cm long.
The case continues and Nanub remains in custody.