Windhoek
Judge Christi Liebenberg is expected to deliver judgment on Thursday in the case of Rehoboth resident, Bryan Rickerts, 37, after hearing closing arguments last week. He informed Rickerts he will be ready with his verdict at 14h00 after a trial that lasted less than a week.
Depending on the decision of the judge the trial will either be over on Thursday, or the counsels will prepare for sentencing proceedings. Liebenberg is known for speedy judgments and sentences and Rickerts will either be a free man or a custodian of the State by the end of the week.
Rickerts, who is accused of stabbing a man to death at a shebeen in Rehoboth’s Block E residential area on February 7, 2014, said he cannot admit or deny that he stabbed the deceased during a plea explanation.
Through his State-funded lawyer, Milton Engelbrecht, he told Judge Liebenberg he could not remember stabbing Shaun Roderick Beukes, because “I was too drunk to know what happened during the time of the alleged stabbing… I had been under the influence [so] that I did not know what I was doing”.
Rickerts said he had consumed different kinds of liquor since early on the morning of that fateful day, including homebrewed beer, Windhoek Lager, Monis Granada and Overmeer.
He further informed the court he suffered a blackout and only came to when a friend, named Elton, woke him up and told him he had stabbed someone.
“But this was so unreal that I just slept further until he came back for a second time and told me that Shaun, the deceased, is dead,” Rickerts explained.
On a second charge of defeating or obstructing the course of justice, he denied all allegations and put the State to prove the charge. He allegedly hid two knives behind a corrugated iron shack and threatened State witnesses Albertus Josef Sneiders, Brenda van Wyk and Helga van Wyk with killing them by stabbing.
The two Van Wyk State witnesses told the court Rickerts was “not that drunk” and was walking and talking normally when he told them he is looking for “strong people to stab”.
During submissions Engelbrecht asked the court to acquit Rickerts on all counts due his inability to remember the goings on of that particular day. According to him Rickerts’ was a victim of over indulging in intoxicating substances and could not be blamed for what transpired, as he was not aware of his actions at the time.
State Advocate Jack Eixab was adamant that Rickerts was in his full mental capacity when he stabbed the deceased.
“He brought two knives to the shebeen and proceeded to sharpen these in front of witnesses,” Eixab informed the court.
He further said the court should not be misled by the sudden claim of mental incapacity and must believe the testimonies of the witnesses who interacted with Rickerts and told the court that he was clearly not out of his mind at the time.