WINDHOEK – The Windhoek Regional Court has sent out a deterrent message to men instigating GBV by sentencing a man to 15 years imprisonment for attempting to kill his former lover of five years and mother to his child in 2016.
Magistrate Surita Savage found Iita Simasiku, 30, guilty on a charge of attempted murder read with the provisions of Domestic Violence Act and consequently sentenced him to serve 15 years in police custody.
Simasiku was found guilty for having tried to kill his ex-girlfriend and mother to his child Christina Mvula when he inflicted 48 stab wounds on her, which left her with a hearing impairment.
“What must weigh heavily against the accused is that he preyed on the weaker and vulnerable in society.
“He surprised the complainant at night in the safety of her home, where she least would have expected to come under attack,” explained Magistrate Savage.
In addition, the court noted that Simasiku while in Mvula’s home subjected her to a violent and merciless assault where he used brutal force against her and was willing to kill in the process.
Mvula testified during the trial that Simasiku attacked her after she offered him shelter. It is her testimony that on the night of 28 March 2016, she was woken up by the owner of the bar where she worked that Simasiku was drunk and passed out in the bar. Her boss allegedly told her to shelter the father of her child.
They allegedly carried him inside the room and laid him on the floor. Mvula explained that she left him on the floor and she slept on the bed.
She further testified that while she was lying on the bed, Simasiku ambushed her with an Okapi knife and started to stab her all over the body.
The convict allegedly claimed that he pretended to be drunk in order to have access to Mvula’s room.
Mvula was hospitalised for two weeks and had to receive blood transfusion as a result of blood loss. She currently cannot lift her arms and has been left with a hearing impairment. She was wheelchair bound for sometime and had to undergo physiotherapy.
Simasiku, who denied guilt at the start of the trial, testified that he acted in self-defence on the fateful night. It is his version that while lying on the floor, he felt attacked by something heavy that was holding his neck.
He allegedly reached for a knife that was in his pocket and started stabbing what was on top of him. He testified that he cannot recall how he got into Mvula’s room.
After the brutal attack, Simasiku allegedly tried to commit suicide when he though that he managed to kill Mvula but failed. Simasiku was found in Mvula’s room with a shoelace around his neck and an Okapi knife on his chest.
The convicted man was represented by local defence attorney Patience Klazen with Fillemon Nyau prosecuting for the State.