2015-09-03Staff Report 2 "Rundu A 52-year-old woman who allegedly strangled her husband to death at Katjinakatji village in Kavango West pleaded guilty to the charge of murder when she made her first court appearance in the Rundu magistrate court on Tuesday. The suspect, Elizabeth Kasiku Washe, was arrested on Sunday morning for the murder of her husband Tjitango Washe, 60. During her plea she admitted to having fought with her husband Tjintango Washe and said things went wrong after she strangled him, claiming she did not mean to kill him, but wanted to protect herself and her children, whom the husband was abusing after he came home drunk on Saturday night. ""When I woke up the next morning he was still in the same position as I left him after we fought and I realised he was dead and I covered him with the blanket and went to the neighbours to alert them to what has happened,"" Elizabeth Washe said. The reason for the fight between the couple was not exactly what some residents told this newspaper when they claimed Washe was killed for trading the family’s drought relief food for alcohol. Elizabeth Washe said when her husband came home that night he started accusing her of sleeping around and that is how the fight started. She denied the accusations by her late husband, who allegedly also wanted to beat up the children for no apparent reason. Elizabeth said she jumped on top of her husband and strangled him with his shirt’s collar until he died. She appeared before Magistrate Desmond Beukes, while public prosecutor Abert Titus represented the State. The case was remanded to October 7 for further police investigations and for the suspect to get a lawyer, although she suggested she would represent herself. She was denied bail due to the seriousness of the offence." 2015-09-03Staff Report 2
