WINDHOEK – Windhoek High Court Judge Nate Ndauendapo on Friday convicted Johny Ryno Diergaardt, 33, guilty of murder with direct intent, read with the provisions of the Prevention of Domestic Violence Act.
Diergaardt stood accused of killing his girlfriend and mother of his daughter by stabbing her 27 times with various knives.

Judge Ndauendapo found that the state proved beyond  reasonable doubt that Diergaardt killed Tiffany Tanita Lewin with whom he has a now eight-year-old daughter, on March 3, 2014 at the room he rented at Erf 427, Garnet Street in Khomasdal and that he intended to kill her.

According to Judge Ndauendapo, there is no dispute that the deceased was stabbed 27 times according to the post-mortem report and that the accused does not deny having stabbed the deceased.
He further said that the accused only said that he cannot remember what had happened.

He testified that he lost consciousness when the quarrel with the deceased started and when he regained his consciousness she was dead and lay in a pool of blood, the judge said.

According to the judge, the defence of Diergaardt that he cannot remember the incident as he “blacked out” during the killing was effectively killed (pun intended) by the reports of the three psychiatrists who evaluated him.

“The psychiatrists who evaluated the accused were unanimous in their findings that the accused did not suffer from any mental illness or defect at the time he stabbed the deceased,” the judge said and continued: “He was able to appreciate the wrongfulness of his conduct and acted in accordance with such appreciation.”
The judge further said that while the defence counsel of the accused correctly did concede that it was indeed the accused who stabbed the deceased, but had no direct intention to kill her, the fact that he stabbed her 27 times with multiple knives proved otherwise.

“By stabbing the deceased 27 times with several knives all over her body, including the knife that got stuck in the head, the accused’s main aim was clearly to cause the death of the deceased and therefore he acted with direct intent and not in the form of dollus eventualis as submitted by his counsel,” Judge Ndauendapo remarked. 

The matter will return to court on October 8 for presentencing procedures and Diergaardt remains in custody at the Windhoek Correctional Facility section for trial-awaiting inmates.
He is represented by Boris Isaacks and the state by Advocate Seredine Jacobs.