Maria Amakali
WINDHOEK – The Windhoek Regional Court on Thursday sentenced Jan van der Vyfer to 20-years imprisonment for stabbing to death a bystander more than four years ago.
The court convicted van der Vyfer 35, of murder with direct intent for the death of Abenel Taapopi Angula, 20. Angula succumbed to stabbing injuries on August 3, 2012 at a bar in Okahandja.
Handing down the judgment, Magistrate Ileni Velikoshi noted that van der Vyfer had the intention of causing Angula’s death on the night in question. According to the court, Angula did nothing wrong to van der Vyfer, who is alleged to have stabbed Angula merely because Angula was an associate or an acquaintance of one Stanley. The court indicated that van der Vyfer redirected his anger to Angula after an altercation with someone else.
According to testimonies put before court, van der Vyfer, his sister and other companions were at the bar when a man assaulted his sister. Van der Vyfer confronted the man that assaulted the sister and an altercation which turned violent erupted. Van der Vyfer got cut with a knife in the forehead as a result. The group that assaulted van der Vyfer ran off. Allegedly because van der Vyfer and his group could not catch up, they instead turned against Angula.
“It is important to note that it was not even the deceased’s acquaintance that injured the accused but someone known as Tinto. The deceased paid with his life for sins of someone he may not even have known,” said Velikoshi.
Further stating that society should be reminded that violence does not pay.
“We cannot be a society of primitive individuals who readily report to extreme bouts of violence at the slightest excuse,” explained Velikoshi.
The accused attack on the deceased can be described as one of great determination involving the use of a lethal and dangerous weapons, according to the court.
“The blow with the knife must have been delivered with a determining force and on a very dangerous area of the body namely the chest. The inflicted open wound measures 4.5cm long and 14cm deep,” narrated Velikoshi. Adding that one could easily see the internal organs of the deceased. The cut was too deep that it penetrated Angula’s lungs and heart.
After van der Vyfer stabbed Angula, he followed him to his house where Angula was laying helplessly on the ground. “He did not render any assistance instead he continued to look for the fourth witness who escaped with his knife,” said Velikoshi.
The court is convinced that van der Vyfer has not shown any remorse, even after he was convicted. He is said to have persisted in professing his innocence while blaming his friends for testifying against
him.