Advocate Maria Shilongo yesterday closed the State’s case against a Keetmanshoop resident who killed his girlfriend and severely injured his then one-year-old daughter because he allegedly saw a gay ghost making sexual advances towards him.
His Legal Aid lawyer, Meriam Kandoni, then informed Windhoek High Court Judge Dinnah Usiku that she needed a remand until Friday to prepare her defence.
Her client, Johannes Claasen, faces charges of murder, attempted murder and assault with intent to do grievous bodily harm, all read with the provisions of the Combating of Domestic Violence Act.
It is alleged by the State that Claasen unlawfully and intentionally killed Ridensia Rolinda Lamberth (28) on 25 December 2020 in Keetmanshoop by stabbing her in the chest with a knife.
On the second count, it is alleged that he stabbed his one-year-old daughter Juanitha Claasen at least three times in the neck and upper chest area with the intention of killing her.
On the third count, it is alleged that he hit the deceased in March 2020 with a fist or open hand, causing her to suffer bruises and swelling around the eye.
During his trial, a police officer testified that Claasen told her that he stabbed the deceased because two gay persons were in the room he shared with the deceased, “wrestling” with him because they wanted to have sexual intercourse with him. He further said he managed to get hold of a butcher’s knife that was hidden under the mattress, and stabbed one. He only realised after that he had stabbed Lamberth, and alerted her mother about the incident. He further told the officer that he was only later told that he also injured his daughter, who was sleeping on her mother’s chest.
Claasen was declared fit to stand trial after undergoing mental observation by two psychiatrists, one in the employment of the State and a private one.
A medical doctor who conducted a post-mortem examination on Lamberth’s body, Dr Refanus Kooper, testified that Lamberth was stabbed in the heart, and that her liver was injured as well.
The fatal stab wound was about 20 centimetres deep, Kooper said.
“The force that was used was very intense,” the doctor said about the fatal injury.
Claasen remains in custody at the section for trial-awaiting inmates at the Windhoek Correctional Facility.