Oshakati High Court Judge Johanna Salionga sentenced a man convicted of killing his uncle, by hitting him with rocks, to 20 years in jail last week.

The judge said that although Adolf Wilhelm Aumbaasa pleaded guilty from the beginning, which constitutes adequate mitigation, his personal circumstances are by far outweighed by the serious of the offence and such conduct call for a lengthy custodial sentence.

Aumbaasa admitted that he hit the 70-year-old victim twice on his chest after the latter threatened him with a panga, but admitted that the deceased dropped the panga after he hit him with the first rock.
He further told the court he was agitated and angry when he started hitting the deceased with a rock, as he could not understand why the deceased wanted to hit him with the panga.

The judge told Aumbaasa that she carefully looked at his personal circumstances such as the fact that he is a first offender at the age of 43 and has been an exemplary citizen until his conviction.

However, the judge said, murder is a serious crime which shows no signs of fading and the victim was his biological uncle that has been living with him in his mother’s house. The accused used a dangerous weapon, a stone in killing the deceased. Indications are that the accused first threw the deceased with a stone and then proceeded to assault the unarmed deceased twice with a stone, the judge remarked.

She went on to say that the court has to reflect on all the surrounding circumstances in determining whether it is dealing with an extreme case of murder. In this instance, she said, the accused despite a quarrel he had picked up with the deceased the previous night, he nonetheless went back to the deceased’s room during the early hours and hit the deceased to death. “This is an aggravating factor,” the judge remarked.

She further said that she considered the fact that the deceased was the initial aggressor ensuing an unarmed nephew and that the accused did not plan to kill the deceased and that the hitting of the deceased happened in the spur of the moment.
- rrouth@nepc.com.na