Convicted killer Henok Negodhi (46) asked Windhoek High Court Judge Herman January on Monday to afford him time to apply for legal representation for his pre-sentencing procedure. He was convicted by Judge January in early November, of murdering his common-law wife by stabbing her at least 16 times with a knife on Christmas Day in 2021.
The incident happened in full view of the minor children of the deceased, Ndapandula Ndinelago Imene. They had to testify in open court and had to recount the horrible ordeal. Judge January convicted him of murder read with the provisions of the Combating of Domestic Violence Act.
Negodhi told the judge yesterday that he cannot continue without the assistance of a lawyer and wants to have a lawyer to help him with the remainder of his trial. His previous lawyer, Mbanga Siyomunji, withdrew after the State closed its case. Siyomunji cited irreconcilable differences due to untenable instructions for his withdrawal.
The judge agreed and postponed the matter to 3 March next year, to allow the new lawyer to get acquainted with the matter and consult Negodhi.
While Negodhi admitted that he stabbed the deceased, he denied that he intended to murder her, saying he stabbed her in self-defence after she attacked him with the knife.
However, the boy – who was 12 years old at the time – testified that he saw the accused put the knife under the pillow before the incident happened.
Judge January thus rejected his defence and found that he killed the deceased with direct intent. The judge said eyewitness evidence showed that the accused deliberately stabbed the deceased in vulnerable places on her body, as evidenced by the postmortem report, which is an indication that he intended to kill her.
Even if the accused’s version was accepted, the judge found, it is evident that after grabbing the knife from the deceased, the purported threat was neutralised, eliminating any imminent threat to the accused.
The danger thus ceased to exist, Judge January stressed and continued, moreover, no wounds were observed on the body of the accused, and there is, therefore, no proof that there was in fact, a struggle for this knife.
Based on the medical evidence, the evidence of the eyewitnesses, and the absence of injuries on the body of the accused, the judge said, it is concluded that the accused attacked the deceased in a fit of rage. He further said the accused planned his attack and executed it accordingly.
According to Judge January, the deceased attempted to defend herself, yet the accused vigorously pursued his goal, which was to murder the deceased, and he succeeded. Negodhi remains in custody at the Windhoek Correctional Facility’s section for trial-awaiting inmates.