Iuze Mukube

A 45-year-old man accused of fatally stabbing his then 39-year-old girlfriend Patricia Hochobes to death with a pair of scissors, has been convicted of murder.

The ruling was delivered last Friday by Judge Claudia Claasen, with the sentencing reserved for 20 March 2025.

Rodney Afrikaner was found guilty of murder, read with the provisions of the Domestic Violence Act, having stabbed the deceased three times with a pair of scissors on 9 February 2025 in Windhoek’s Hakahana informal settlement.

Before the ruling, he pleaded not guilty, admitting he had stabbed Hochobes, but had no intention to kill her.

However, Claasen surmised he had intent to kill due to evidence that showed that he had stabbed the deceased three times, the first one whilst the deceased was sitting and breastfeeding their baby.

Additionally, the second and third blows came in rapid succession.

The judge considered that as the object has two sharp edges, the length of the blades and the number of blows directed against the deceased body, it left no question that the accused should have foreseen that his actions could cause the death of his partner, and reconciled himself to that.

Moreover, that finding is solidified by his behaviour after the stabbing, in that he nonchalantly went to sleep somewhere else.

Claasen had pointed out Afrikaner’s defence was ever evolving, where he initially denied any stabbing, but later admitted to one stab, which was a mere scratch. He had also denied stabbing the deceased for a second and third time, but later in the trial conceded to having inflicted a second and third stab wound,but that he was not liable for the other wounds.

Furthermore, he had claimed to be attacked by three ladies, of whom two were witnesses, but failed to put that version to the relevant witnesses during cross-examination. He had even accused them and an expert witness, a medical doctor, of causing the other wounds on the deceased.

However, Claasen said, at the end of the day, the versions offered by Afrikaner were discredited in all their shapes and forms through effective cross-examination. He hence, the court placed no reliance on that.

She furthermore held Loretta Naris’ testimony to be clear and satisfactory in every material respect, as she had observed the event at a close distance, even describing the parameters of the scissor.

Naris had given a logical explanation for the six wounds, that the scissor has two sharp edges, and that even if the blows were three, the inflicted wounds would be six, which was confirmed by a medical doctor.

Therefore, Claasen concluded that having cumulatively considered the evidence presented in court, Afrikaner’s version was not reasonably possibly true and was rejected as false beyond any doubt.

Afrikaner said, if he had intended to kill her, he would have stabbed her in the neck or upper body. It was put to him that he should have foreseen the eventual result, as he stabbed her with a sharp object.

He responded that he did not foresee that she would die.

Claasen held it is prudent to commence with the common cause fact that the accused had stabbed the deceased with a pair of scissors on the night in question.

She added Afrikaner did, however, not dispute that the deceased was declared dead on the scene shortly after midnight.

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