Windhoek High Court Judge Boas Usiku yesterday said that direct imprisonment is the only appropriate sentence in respect of the offences committed by a 26-year-old Windhoek man. 

Judge Usiku thus sentenced Ruben Fritz to an effective 31 years in jail. “I am of the view that the personal circumstances of the accused are far outweighed by the seriousness of crimes committed, particularly the offences of rape and murder. 

There are no words to express the horror that the deceased found herself in, when confronted with the accused, after the rape, determined to kill her,” the judge said. 

He was speaking during the sentencing of Fritz whom he convicted last year on charges of murder, rape, robbery with aggravating circumstances and defeating or obstructing the course of justice. 

He sentenced Fritz to 30 years with four years suspended for five years on condition that he is not convicted of murder or attempted murder on the murder count, 15 years on the rape count, 10 years on the robbery count and one year on the defeating or obstructing the course of justice. 

The judge, however, ordered that 10 years of the rape and the sentences on the robbery and defeating counts run concurrently with the murder sentence. Fritz was charged together with Franciscus Narimab on the rape and murder of 18-year-old Alwina Uri-Khos during 28 and 29 March 2013, while the other held her down after taking her to a bushy area between Shandumbala and the Western Bypass in Windhoek. It was further alleged that both accused killed the deceased by hitting her
with a 21kg stone on her head and she died at the scene of severe head injuries due to blunt force impact trauma. 

The accused then allegedly robbed Uri-Khos of her cell phone, SIM card, a pair of shoes and trousers. It is further alleged that they destroyed the SIM card and sold the cellular phone and instructed the mother of Fritz to give false information to the police. It is further alleged they disposed of the shoes and trouser of the deceased in a way unknown to the police.

 Narimab was, however, acquitted at the end of the trial with Judge Usiku finding that the State failed to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that he was involved in the offences. According to the judge, the deceased suffered a violent and brutal death at the hands of the accused. “The circumstances in which she died justifiably arouse the indignation and horror of society,” he said. 

“The accused had no justifiable reason for murdering the deceased.” It was revealed during the trial that the victim was last seen in the company of the two men at a local shebeen. However, two days later, Fritz confessed to his mother that he had killed someone. 

-rrouth@nepc.com.na