A 52-year-old man from northern Namibia, who admitted he stabbed his girlfriend and mother of his two children, was sentenced to an effective 34 years behind bars by Oshakati High Court acting judge David Munsu.

Andreas Petapeta Mbwale, who was 47 years old when he killed Petrina Wokaulu in a fit of jealousy over a suspicion she was cheating on him, was sentenced to 30 years for murder on a guilty plea. 

He was further sentenced to four years on a guilty plea of arson and 12 months on a guilty plea of malicious damage to property. 

He was also sentenced to 18 months imprisonment for a conviction of assault to do grievous bodily harm and six months on a conviction of assault by threat. 

It was, however, ordered that sentences on the assault and malicious damage to property convictions run concurrently with the murder and arson convictions, leaving him with 34 years.

The charges emanate from an incident on 11 December 2016 when Mbwale assaulted Wokaulu with a stick and threatened to assault the so-called person with whom she cheated. 

On 12 December 2016, he again assaulted the victim with a stick and stabbed her several times with a knife and also hit another person, whom he accused of facilitating the affair between the victim and her so-called lover, on the head, causing her injuries. 

He, thereafter, set fire to the hut of the person he suspected of having an affair with the victim and further destroyed his other properties to the value of N$8 515. The incidents happened at Otjaandjamwenyo village in Ruacana constituency. 

The victim was from Otjihambyi, Angola.

According to the judge, the offences committed by the accused are serious and deserve severe punishment. What is aggravating is the fact that the murder was committed in a domestic setting, the judge said. 

He said Mbwale killed his girlfriend by beating her with a stick and stabbing her with a knife several times. 

“The reason for the callous crime is because he suspected her having an affair,” he said, and continued: Society looks upon the courts to pass fitting sentences to those who make themselves guilty of heinous crimes. The sentence should send a clear message – not only to the accused but to would-be-offenders that domestic violence in any form will never be tolerated.

- rrouth@nepc.com.na