A woman, who was on trial for conspiring with several men to kill her husband, was convicted for his death on Friday by the High Court. 

Judge Johanna Salionga convicted Annastancia Lubinda (39) on a charge of murder with direct intent to kill, read with the provisions of the Domestic Violence Act, for the death of her husband Peter Riscoh Muleke (36), who was stoned to death in the Goreangab Dam area in Windhoek during the night of 29 to 30 March 2015.

Lubinda’s co-accused Donald Hindjou (31) and David Kandjara (39) were convicted on the charge of murder. 

Dollam Tjitjahuma (33) and Abiud Uazeua (41) were acquitted on a charge of being in possession of drugs. 

The court acquitted all the five accused for robbery with aggravating circumstances and conspiracy to commit murder.

“It is safe to draw inference that accused one, three and five (Lubinda, Hindjou and Tjitjahuma), together with an unknown person, conspired with each other to kill the deceased and ultimately stoned him to death,” said Salionga.

In terms of the verdict, the court made reference to Lubinda’s detailed admission made in the lower court, where she said she conspired with her co-accused to kill her husband. 

She further confessed to have been present when her husband was stoned to death. 

Salionga said despite her defence team having argued that Lubinda was influenced by the police officer into making the self-incriminating confession, there is no evidence to that effect.

In the same confession, Lubinda said she was a victim of domestic abuse with regular beatings and a near-fatal stabbing. 

This caused her to look for a way out, she said in her statement. 

According to her, David Matali (now deceased) was the one who influenced her to have her husband killed, and he told her about a person who could supply her with poison – but when this did not materialise, he gave her cellphone numbers of people who allegedly kill for money. 

She then contacted the hitmen, whose initial price was N$7 000, Lubinda stated – but it was lowered to N$5 000 when she told them she could not afford the initial price. 

Kondjara and Hindjou also made statements to a magistrate in which they claim although they were present at the crime scene, they did not partake in the killing. 

According to them, it was Uazeua and Tjitjahuma who killed the victim with the help of Matali. 

According to the two, Lubinda was present and was telling the men “to make it quick”. 

Lubinda in her statement said she asked her late husband to take her to Goreangab Dam on that fateful day to collect money from someone, knowing well that the hitmen were waiting for them. 

The body of the victim was found a few metres from his abandoned car at Goreangab Dam.

The accused are represented by defence lawyers Mbanga Siyomunji, Milton Engelbrecht and Natji Tjirera. 

Marthino Olivier represents the state. - mamakali@nepc.com.na