A 35-year-old man, accused of strangling his former intimate partner to death after she refused to have intercourse with him, made his first appearance before Deputy Judge President Nate Ndauendapo in the Windhoek High Court on Wednesday.

Henny Christy Murphy faces charges of housebreaking with intent to murder, murder (read with the provisions of the Combating of Domestic Violence Act) and defeating or obstructing the course of justice or attempting to do so.

Murphy is accused of murdering Christiana Chris Beukes by strangling her with his bare hands. 

The indictment reads that Murphy and the victim were in a romantic relationship, which the victim ended shortly before her death. 

It is further alleged that on the evening of 3 March 2023, the accused, the victim and friends were socialising in a friend’s room at a local hotel. 

Murphy then asked Beukes to have sexual intercourse with him, but she refused. This allegedly left him feeling insulted, the indictment reads. 

It is further claimed that during the late-night hours of 3 March or the early morning hours of 4 March 2023, the accused planned to kill the victim.

He waited for her to return to her lodgings. 

“He then opened a burglar-bar door and/or broke or opened a toilet window to enable him to enter the deceased’s bedroom,” the indictment states.

Once inside, he allegedly lunged at the victim and strangled her until she died.

 Murphy faces an additional charge of defeating the course of justice for allegedly using a blanket or piece of cloth to remove or wipe away his footprints as he walked to Beukes’ bedroom. 

This was done to frustrate the police investigation and prevent him from being arrested and prosecuted.

Judge Ndauendapo postponed the matter to 21 May for Murphy to apply for a Legal Aid lawyer.

He was remanded in custody. 

Deputy Prosecutor General Antonia Verhoef represented the State.

-rrouth@nepc.com.na