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Scissors ‘killer’ verdict next year

Scissors ‘killer’ verdict next year

Windhoek High Court Judge Claudia Claasen on Friday said she will deliver her verdict on 21 February 2025 on the case of Rodney Afrikaner.

The accused is alleged to have killed his common-law wife by stabbing her with a pair of scissors.

He is facing a charge of murder, read with the provisions of the Combating of Domestic Violence Act. 

He denied guilt at the start of his trial. 

While he admitted that he stabbed 39-year-old Petricia ‘Swaertjie’ Hochobes on 9 February 2019, he denied that he intended to kill her.

Afrikaner did not give a plea explanation.

He told the court that he would remain silent, and put the onus on the State to prove every allegation against him. 

It later emerged during his evidence-in-chief that he inflicted the stab wounds to punish the victim.

On Friday, he repeated his claims that he did not intend to kill the victim, but merely to hurt her for disrespecting him. 

He added that the victim had the scissors, and wanted to attack him with them.

He said he managed to take them from her, and “scratched” her on the knee with them.

He narrated that it was during a scuffle with the victim that he accidentally stabbed her on the calf with the scissors, after which he went home to sleep, as he did not take the incident seriously. 

He only heard in the morning that the victim died due to the stabbing. 

Afrikaner had questions about the post-mortem of the victim.

He questioned as to why the mortuary staff were not called as witnesses. 

He questioned the number of injuries the victim sustained, as he claims he stabbed her only once.

Timo Itula, on behalf of the State, argued that the scissors could have been opened, which would account for the number of injuries and the testimony of the eyewitness that she saw him stabbing the victim three times. 

He said that there is no way the accused did not intend to kill the victim as he claims, as there could be no other reason for him to stab her brutally that number of times. 

Itula said the accused’s conduct after observing the incident and the amount of blood the victim was losing is further confirmation that he knew exactly what he had done. 

He said if the accused did not intend to kill the victim, he would have tried to get her some help. 

Instead, he left casually, and went to sleep, Itula said. 

He added that someone in their right mind would not be so careless if they knew an accident just happened. 

He asked the court to convict the accused as charged. 

Afrikaner is representing himself after his former Legal Aid instructed lawyer Susan Nyatondo withdrew from the matter for untenable instructions.

He remains in custody.

-rrouth@nepc.com.na