WINDHOEK - Piet Kondjele Nakanene, 33, a Walvis Bay resident was sentenced to an effective 80 years’ imprisonment on convictions of two counts of housebreaking with intent to rape, three counts of attempted rape, one count of rape and two counts of attempted murder.

He was also convicted of one count of murder and one count of defeating or obstructing the course of justice by Windhoek High Court Judge Dinnah Usiku at the court at the Windhoek Correctional Facility on Thursday morning.
The judge sentenced Nakanene to five years each on the attempted rape convictions, and 15 years each on the attempted murder convictions, 

but ordered that two of the attempted rape convictions run concurrently with the two attempted murder convictions. 
He also got 35 years on the murder conviction and 10 years for rape. For defeating the course of justice he got four years, which will run concurrently with the rape sentence.

According to Judge Usiku, the personal circumstances of the accused do not carry much weight as he testified that his only child did not live with him, nor did he make any meaningful contributions to her well-being. She further said Nakanene did not show any remorse whatsoever during his trial for the heinous crimes he committed against the three complainants and the deceased. 

Nakanene was charged with breaking into the room of his niece while she was asleep and attempting to rape her on September 3, 2006 in Kuisebmond. He also broke into another woman’s room in his mother’s backyard on April 6, 2013 and attempted to rape her. 

The third rape attempt occurred on October 15, 2013 when Nakanene followed his victim who was on her way home on foot using the route she normally took which passes nearby the premises where the accused resided in Kuisebmond. 
The attempted murder charges emanate from him strangling his victims, causing them to pass out.

After this Nakanene upped his ante when he managed to kill Benedine Letesia Baumgarten by strangling her with his bare hands after he raped her in his room in Kuisebmond between March 12 and 13, 2014 and then removed the dead body of the victim from his room and dumped it in the dunes a distance away from his house, and cleaned the yard of the house with a rake, as well as destroyed, or in another unknown way, disposed of a pair of shoes he was wearing during the period March 12 to 13, 2014.

“All of the complainants at the time of the crimes were vulnerable as they were each under the influence of alcohol and accused had taken advantage of their condition,” the judge said, and continued: “It must however also be considered by this court that none of the three complainants sustained injuries as a result of the attempted rape.”

However, she added, the fact that no injuries were sustained does not make a crime of attempted rape less serious.
The judge said while the accused expressed his sadness about what happened between him and his cousin, the first complainant, “he denied the allegation of having attempted to rape the complainant.”

 According to him he had been under the influence of alcohol at the time and could not have reacted in a manner he did, had he been in his sober senses, the judge remarked. She further said Nakanene claimed the other complainants all lied about him having tried to rape them, and having tried to kill them, and that he told the court the truth about what transpired. She noted he persisted in his denial and showed no remorse whatsoever, which calls for a severe sentence.
Nakanene was represented by legal aid lawyer Mpokiseng Dube and the state by Advocate Innocencia Nyoni.