2017-08-31Staff Report 2 Roland Routh Windhoek Judge Alfred Siboleka on Tuesday sentenced Edmund Jagger to 35 years behind bars after he was convicted of stabbing and killing Renelda Alien Oamite Hoeses. The victim, who was 22 at the time of her death, was stabbed 18 times in the frenzied attack that cut short her life. Jagger was convicted by Judge Siboleka of murder with direct intent on July 21 for killing Renelda Hoeses at her father’s residence at Erf 1978, Build Together in Orwetoveni in Otjiwarongo during the late-night hours of Friday March 1, 2013, or the early morning hours of March 2, 2013. The deceased died on the scene due to hypovolemic shock caused by the multiple stab wounds. According to Judge Siboleka, the murder of a female partner in a domestic setting for terminating the relationship is unacceptable and calls for severe custodial sentences. He said the brutality perpetrated by male persons on their female partners is increasing, despite the communities’ continuous pleas that it be halted. “The imposition of heavy custodial sentences on convictees of these crimes does not seem to calm down this tendency,” Judge Siboleka stressed, adding that some male persons appear to be under the impression that they are entitled to end the lives of their female partners whenever they see fit, which is totally unacceptable. regard to the sentence he imposed, Siboleka said the court took into consideration the fact that Jagger was a first offender and remained in custody while awaiting trial for a period of four years and five months. He further stated that in mitigation of sentence the counsel for the accused submitted that alcohol played a part in the commission of the crime. “It is my considered view that this does not take the accused’s mitigation anywhere, because in his defense he denied knowledge of the attack on the deceased,” the judge said. He noted the accused is using the excuse of alcohol as an afterthought in an attempt to persuade the court that he was not fully conscious of what he was doing, which on evidence, is not the case. At any rate, the judge found that this consideration was by far outweighed by the circumstances of the crime. He said the accused came to the residence of the deceased on the day in question and it is not clear what transpired between them, as the only eyewitness to the murder only saw the deceased lying on her stomach with the accused sitting on top of her busy stabbing her with a knife. The accused was granted permission by the father of the deceased to reside with the deceased in a shack in his yard. They resided together and a son was born to them, the judge recounted, but noted that soon after the baby’s birth things started to unravel and the deceased woman informed the accused that she no longer wanted to continue with the relationship. The relationship soured to such an extent that the help of the police had to be sought to remove the accused from the residence of the deceased, the judge stated. But the Jagger returned to the shack to forcibly take away his child, who was still breastfeeding. All of the evidence, as well as the fact that Jagger did not testify in mitigation, left the court no choice but to impose a heavy sentence, the judge concluded. Jagger was represented by Josua Kaumbi on instructions of the legal aid directorate and Deputy Prosecutor General Karin Esterhuizen represented the State. 2017-08-31Staff Report 2
