Deputy prosecutor general Antonia Verhoef last week asked Windhoek High Court Judge Christie Liebenberg to move a former senior police officer attached to the Women and Child Protection Unit in Keetmanshoop from Seeis police station to the section for trial awaiting inmates at the Windhoek Correctional Facility.

The reason, she said, is that it came to light that former Detective Warrant Officer Morgan Brian Plaatjie has on several occasions threatened to take his own life.

According to Verhoef, she received two affidavits from officers stationed at Seeis that Plaatjie is saying that he will grab any police officer’s service pistol if he gets the chance and kill himself and any person that stands in his way.

She thus asked that he be moved to Windhoek for his own safety. The judge agreed and ordered that Plaatjie be detained there and that the authorities in Windhoek are informed of his intentions.

His lawyer, Christopher Stanley, further told the judge that there are currently no beds available at the Windhoek Central Hospital’s psychiatric ward for Plaatjie’s court ordered mental observation.

He has also not been seen by a private psychiatrist. The judge ordered that he must be evaluated by a psychiatrist in the employment of the State as well as by a private psychiatrist.

Plaatjie is facing one charge of housebreaking with intent to murder and murder, read with the provisions of the Combating of Domestic Violence Act, one count of attempted murder, two counts of contravening the Combating of Domestic Violence Act – contravening a protection order, one count of assault by threat, and one count of malicious damage to property, read with the provisions of the Combating of Domestic Violence Act.

It is alleged by the State that during the period 25 to 26 June 2021 in Keetmanshoop, the accused broke down the toilet door of Yvette Sharon Louw by kicking it open with the intent to murder her, and then unlawfully and intentionally killed Louw by stabbing her several times with a knife. The attempted murder charge relates to an incident on the same day when he unlawfully and intentionally assaulted Dawid Jansen by stabbing him multiple times with the intention to murder him. 

With regards to contravening a protection order, it is alleged that Plaatjie contravened the provisions of a protection order Louw had taken out against him on two occasions. The assault by threat charge is in relation to an incident when Plaatjie allegedly threatened to kill or beat her in circumstances where she believed he had the intention and means to carry out his threat, and caused her to flee her residence. The malicious damage charge reflects an incident when he unlawfully and intentionally destroyed her TV set.

According to the summary of substantial facts in the indictment, the accused and Louw were involved in a romantic relationship, from which two children were born. However, two years before her death, she terminated the relationship, and moved into her own place in Keetmanshoop’s Tseiblaagte residential area. 

Due to ongoing assaults and threats of assault by Plaatjie, Louw applied for and obtained a protection order against him, valid until August 2022. He, however, violated the protection order on 7 May 2021 when he came to her house and insulted and threatened her as well as damaged her TV set. She opened a criminal case against him, whereupon he was arrested and granted bail. It is further stated that the accused again went to Louw’s house during the late-night hours of 25 June 2021 when he found Louw and her new boyfriend, Jansen, and started to stab the boyfriend, causing him to flee. He, thereafter, proceeded to attack Louw by stabbing her several times with a knife, causing her to seek shelter. He then broke down the door of the toilet where she locked herself in, and continued to stab Louw until she collapsed. 

He afterwards called the police, and reported that he had killed her. The police arrived and took Louw to hospital, where she died due to blood loss and injuries caused by the stab wounds.

The matter will return to court on 22 September for a status report on the mental observation. 

- rrouth@nepc.com.na