The trial of a Gobabis resident, who is charged with murdering another woman in the same manner as in a previous murder he was convicted and sentenced for, was set on the back burner, as the lawyer representing him is dealing with a death in his immediate family.

Windhoek High Court Judge Claudia Claasen was informed last week when submissions were supposed to be made on the guilt or innocence of Petrus Hoxobeb (57) before she delivers her verdict that Eliaser Shiikwa, his legal aid lawyer, has a bereavement in his family and is currently in the north for the funeral process.

She consequently postponed the matter to 3 February next year for submissions.

Hoxobeb pleaded not guilty to charges of murder and assault over the fatal stabbing of Josephine Afrikaner at a shebeen in the Freedom Square informal settlement in Gobabis during the evening hours of Sunday 14 July 2019. 

It is alleged he killed the victim by stabbing her with a knife at least nine times and threatened to stab a witness who observed the murder.

According to the indictment, Hoxobeb and the victim was involved in a relationship sometime before her death. 

During the evening of 14 July 2019, the victim was socialising with some of her friends at a shebeen. 

During the evening, the victim left the shebeen to go and relieve herself outside, and she was accompanied by Esmie Thomelo, who is the complainant in the charge of assault by threat Hoxobeb is also facing.

It is further alleged that Hoxobeb then followed them, armed with a knife, and pounced on the squatting Afrikaner and stabbed her. 

When Thomelo wanted to intervene, he threatened to stab her with the knife he was still wielding. 

The victim died on the spot due to blood loss caused by stab wounds to the 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.

- rrouth@nepc.com.na