Hendrik Bock (53), a farmworker from Post Houtputz in the Otjombinde area near Tallismanus in the Gobabis district, on Monday pleaded guilty to murder with direct intent for slitting the throat of his girlfriend and mother of his child on 4 September 2018.
Bock however denied guilt on a charge of attempted murder for allegedly hitting the victim Angela Anab with an axe on the head two years prior. 
In a statement read into the record by his State-funded lawyer, Mese Tjituri, the accused admitted he stabbed Anab twice with a knife before he slit her throat, ostensibly because she ‘did not respect him’. 

According to the statement, he and the deceased were at her father’s home on that morning drinking alcohol and that they later left to get some more alcohol.
He said that after a while he noticed that she had emptied the wine and when she could not give a satisfactory answer he became angry and a heated argument ensued during which the deceased told him that she had deliberately infected him with a sexually transmitted disease and he then pulled out a pocket knife and stabbed her three times and also slit her throat. He further said that with the guilty plea he wished to extend his sincere apology to the family of the deceased for the manner he caused her death and pleaded with the court for mercy. On the charge of attempted murder, he denied any knowledge of the offence and put it to the State to prove the allegation beyond reasonable doubt.
The father of the deceased, Fritz Anab, told the court that on the day in question he was visited by a friend and they went to play a traditional game called Onuye under a tree near his house.

While they were sitting there, he said, the accused and the deceased left to get some mealie meal from a neighbour to fix porridge and when they returned, the deceased came to sit where they were playing the game.
After a while, the witness testified, the accused also came there and when he saw he had an open knife in his hand he asked the accused what was going on and the accused replied ‘this girl has no respect for me’ and stabbed her once in the shoulder and once in the chest. – rrouth@nepc.com.na

Fritz Anab went on to say that he then got up and rushed to the house of a neighbour, Israel Tjitemisa, to phone the police and the accused followed him after a while.
He further said that he left the deceased where she was stabbed and he could see that she was struggling to breathe.
While at Tjitemisa’s house, the witness told the court, Bock also came there, but Tjitemisa stopped him from entering his yard and the accused told them:  ‘Now I will finish her; I will cut her throat.’
The matter continues today and Bock remains in custody.
The State is represented by Advocate Marthino Olivier and the presiding judge is Claudia Claasen.

– rrouth@nepc.com.na