Windhoek High Court Judge Claudia Claassen sentenced a man she convicted of murder, read with the provisions of the Combating of Domestic Violence Act, to 33 years direct imprisonment yesterday. 

Petrus Hoxobeb (58) was convicted of charge of murder, read with the provisions of the Combating of Domestic Violence Act, for killing his girlfriend, Josephine Afrikaner, at a shebeen in Freedom Square informal settlement in Gobabis during the evening hours of Sunday, 14 July 2019 by stabbing her at least nine times all over her body. 

She was 26 years old at the time.

According to the post mortem report, she died of hypovolemic shock due to stab wounds to her heart and lungs. Hoxobeb was released from custody on parole on a previous murder conviction in 2008, after serving 13 years of a 17-year sentence. According to the summary of substantial facts on the previous murder, he also stabbed his victim multiple times while she was relieving herself in the bushes.

According to the judge, Hoxobeb did not show a single shred of remorse for the “horrendous” act he committed. She further said that the murder happened unexpectedly and unprovoked. “You attacked a defenceless lady in a vulnerable position. She just pulled down her panty when you pounced on her, pulled her up and started to wrestle with her and then stabbed her all over her body,” Judge Claassen told Hoxobeb. She further said: You were not satisfied with one stab or two, but you stabbed her nine times causing her to die a horrible death. Even the attempts of Esmie Thomelo to intervene was met with a threat to her and if she did not retreat and ran away to get help you might have stabbed her as well.” 

She went on to say Thomelo, when she returned from looking for help was confronted with the gruesome sight of her friend’s lifeless body lying there in a pool of blood. According to the judge, the murder was the act of a scorned lover. 

She said that Hoxobeb suffered from a false entitlement that if he could not have her no one else will. 

This mindset of Namibian men must change, the judge said, and added men should accept when a relationship fail and move on. According to the judge, women are violated in any place imaginable and in this instance, it happened in what could be considered a private moment. 

“You did not respect that,” the judge told Hoxobeb.  She further said that his previous conviction shows that he has no respect for the sanctity of life and has a propensity to violence. While she shares the indignity of the Namibian society at the rate on which the rights of Namibian women are trampled upon and are butchered at the whim of scorned lovers which leaves a bitter taste in the mouth, she cannot punish in anger, but must give a sentence that will reflect the repugnance of society. 

Although mercy is an element in sentencing, the judge said, it should not weaken the court’s resolve to punish evil doers harshly and this case is no exception.

 She then sentenced Hoxobeb to 33 years on the murder conviction and two years on the assault conviction and ordered the sentences to run concurrently. -rrouth@nepc.com.na