Lüderitz man guilty over killing of brother A Lüderitz resident who killed his brother by stabbing him repeatedly with a knife has been found guilty of culpable homicide after standing trial in the Windhoek High Court. Brenton Hendricks (24) was found not guilty on a charge of murder, but convicted of culpable homicide, in a judgement delivered by judge Claudia Claasen on Friday. Claasen found that Hendricks was entitled to defend himself against an assault by his older brother, Joslin Hendricks (26), at their family home at Lüderitz on 25 September 2022, but that he exceeded the bounds of self-defence when he used a kitchen knife to stab his brother, with fatal results. Brenton told the judge during his trial that he was preparing an evening meal in his room when he heard voices outside and went to look what was going on. He took a knife, tucked under the waistband of his shorts, with him when he went outside. Brenton said he found his brother arguing with and swearing at their father. When he asked his brother why he was going on like that, Joslin grabbed him by his chest and neck, threw him to the ground and then punched him while kneeling on top of him, Brenton said. During the fight, he tried to get his brother off him, but Joslin also strangled him, and he then pulled out the knife and stabbed Joslin several times, he said. After Joslin had collapsed in their house, Brenton told their father that they had to rush him to a hospital. At the hospital, they were informed that Joslin had died. According to a post-mortem examination report, seven stab injuries were recorded on Joslin’s body. Some of the injuries were superficial, but two stab wounds to Joslin’s chest were fatal. Brenton used a kitchen knife with a 21-centimetre-long blade to stab his brother, Claasen noted in her judgement. “The evidence from both sides reveals that the deceased was the aggressor at the outset,” she said. “The court is satisfied that he [Brenton] was indeed attacked,” Claasen added. “All things considered […] I find that it was necessary to defend himself,” she said as well. However, the means used by Brenton, in the form of a knife with a blade 21 centimetres long, “was not reasonably necessary in the circumstances”, Claasen stated. The knife was “a formidable weapon”, and Brenton used it to stab his brother seven times, Claasen remarked. “That, in my view, is excessive in the circumstances,” she said. “He went overboard in his defence and ought reasonably to have foreseen that he might exceed the bounds of private defence. He was thus negligent in his actions.” Based on the finding of negligence, Claasen convicted Hendricks of culpable homicide. Hendricks was free on bail during his trial, but his bail was cancelled after the delivery of the verdict. He has to return to court on 19 June for a presentence hearing. State advocate Anna Amukugo is prosecuting. Hendricks is being represented by defence lawyer Joseph Andreas. The post Lüderitz man guilty over killing of brother appeared first on The Namibian.

#Lüderitz #CulpableHomicide #SelfDefense #WindhoekHighCourt #LegalJustice

PDM loses court battle over 99-Year Farm lease to Russian billionaire PDM loses court battle over 99-Year Farm lease to Russian billionaire NBC Online Mon, 06/02/2025 - 16:01

#PDM #RussianBillionaire #FarmLease #WindhoekHighCourt #LegalBattle

Man Found Guilty of Murdering Pregnant Girlfriend in Windhoek High Court [Namibian] A man who fatally injured his pregnant girlfriend when he stabbed her with a knife more than five years ago has been found guilty on charges of murder and defeating or obstructing the course of justice after standing trial in the Windhoek High Court.

#MurderTrial #JusticeServed #WindhoekHighCourt #NamibiaNews #DomesticViolence

Man found guilty of murdering pregnant girlfriend in Windhoek High Court A man who fatally injured his pregnant girlfriend when he stabbed her with a knife more than five years ago has been found guilty on charges of murder and defeating or obstructing the course of justice after standing trial in the Windhoek High Court. Judge Dinnah Usiku convicted the man, Abraham Maasdorp (24), in a judgement delivered on Friday. The state alleged that Maasdorp murdered his then girlfriend, Magda van Wyk (26), by stabbing her in the breast at Gobabis during the night of 2 to 3 August 2019. Van Wyk died in a hospital in Windhoek on 13 August 2019. During Maasdorp’s trial, Usiku was told that a post-mortem examination revealed Van Wyk had a small, penetrating stab wound to her heart, which caused bleeding in her chest. The bleeding proved to be fatal 10 days after the injury had been inflicted. The court also heard that Van Wyk visited a clinic at Gobabis on the day after the stabbing. The injury to her left breast was considered to be superficial at that stage, and the wound was stitched. Van Wyk returned to the clinic five days later, complaining of chest pain and lower abdominal pains, and a test then showed she was pregnant, the court heard. She was referred to a hospital at Gobabis, where she was admitted upon arrival. Van Wyk was being treated for an ectopic pregnancy before she died, with the cause of her death not clear at that stage. During Maasdorp’s trial, one of the state’s witnesses testified that she was with Van Wyk at a bar at Gobabis when Maasdorp, who appeared to be under the influence of alcohol, approached Van Wyk and asked her to go home with him. Maasdorp and Van Wyk were living together at the time. The witness said Van Wyk refused to go home with Maasdorp, and he then took out a knife and stabbed Van Wyk in the breast. Van Wyk did not report the incident to the police. One of the state’s witnesses told the court she advised Van Wyk to report the matter to the police, but she refused. Van Wyk also told the witness she could not explain why Maasdorp stabbed her, because she feared she would be killed by him, Usiku recounted in her judgement. According to Maasdorp, he found Van Wyk at a bar at Gobabis and noticed she was not looking well. He said she told him she had been stabbed by an unknown person when she tried to stop a fight between people at the bar. Maasdorp also said Van Wyk said she was well and did not want to go to a clinic then. Usiku rejected Maasdorp’s version about the stabbing as “clearly false”. The judge noted that Maasdorp “in actual fact played down the stabbing of [Van Wyk], claiming that it was no one’s business but theirs”. Usiku concluded that this, together with the nature of the weapon used by Maasdorp and the part of her body in which Van Wyk was stabbed, indicated that Maasdorp acted with an intention to kill Van Wyk. He was also found guilty of defeating or obstructing the course of justice for getting rid of the knife with which Van Wyk was stabbed. Maasdorp has to return to court for a presentence hearing on 6 June. State advocate Basson Lilungwe is representing the prosecution. Maasdorp is being represented by defence lawyer Mbanga Siyomunji. The post Man found guilty of murdering pregnant girlfriend in Windhoek High Court appeared first on The Namibian.

#JusticeForMagda #WindhoekHighCourt #NamibiaNews #MurderCase #ViolenceAgainstWomen

Khorixas man convicted of murdering partner with axe A KHORIXAS resident accused of killing his domestic partner with an axe in December 2022 has been found guilty of murder after standing trial in the Windhoek High Court. Judge Claudia Claasen convicted the man, Barnabas Nawaseb (32), on a count of murder, read with the provisions of the Combating of Domestic Violence Act, in a judgement delivered on Friday. Claasen rejected Nawaseb’s claims that he struck his domestic partner, Metihisia Tanises (32), with an axe in self-defence in their home at Khorixas during the early hours of 21 December 2022. Considering the type of object that Nawaseb used to hit Tanises, the part of her body to which the blows he inflicted were directed, the type of injuries she sustained and Nawaseb’s behaviour after the incident, she could conclude he had an intention to kill Taniseb, Claasen said in her judgement. Taniseb was lying in a pool of blood on her bed when she was found dead in her bedroom on the morning of 21 December 2022. Her four-year-old child was sleeping next to her on the bed when she was found dead. During Nawaseb’s trial, the court heard that Taniseb had gone to the Khorixas Police Station the previous day to lay a complaint about domestic violence against Nawaseb. She also requested the police to remove Nawaseb and his belongings from their house, which was done the same day. Nawaseb told the court that he and Taniseb had been involved in an argument before she went to the police to ask that he be removed from their house. He said around midnight that day, Taniseb came to him and asked him to return to their house, which he did. Nawaseb also claimed that Taniseb again started an argument with him after he had returned to their house, and that he then wanted to leave, but the door of the dwelling was secured with a padlock. He said Taniseb told him she did not know where the key for the padlock was, and he then took an axe with which he wanted to break the padlock. However, Taniseb grabbed him, pulled him to their bedroom and also grabbed his testicles, Nawaseb said. Nawaseb said he hit Taniseb with the axe more than once, but could not remember more than the first blow that he struck. He also said he did not realise he could injure her by hitting her with the blunt side of the axe head. After he had struck her, he left the house through a window and went to sleep at his cousin’s house, Nawaseb said. Taniseb was sitting on her bed, crying, when he left the house, he claimed. A medical doctor who carried out a post-mortem examination on Taniseb testified that her skull was fractured in several places. He also disagreed with a suggestion that Taniseb had been hit with the blunt side of an axe, and said in his opinion she was struck with the sharp side of the instrument. On Nawaseb’s version that Taniseb had asked him to return to their house around midnight, Claasen remarked that she found it unlikely that a mother of two small children, aged five and four years, would have left her children home alone and gone to fetch a person she had asked to be removed earlier that day. Nawaseb, who is being held in custody, is due to return to court for a presentence hearing on 16 May. State advocate Basson Lilungwe is prosecuting. Legal aid lawyer Petrus Grusshaber is representing Nawaseb. The post Khorixas man convicted of murdering partner with axe appeared first on The Namibian.

#JusticeForMetihisia #DomesticViolenceAwareness #MurderTrial #Khorixas #WindhoekHighCourt

Ueitele, Prinsloo Sworn in As Deputy Judge President [Namibian] Judges Shafimana Ueitele and Hannelie Prinsloo were sworn in as deputy judge presidents of the Windhoek High Court on Tuesday.

#Namibia #Judiciary #WindhoekHighCourt #DeputyJudgePresident #LegalSystem