Kashala had denied guilt on the murder charge, but was convicted on Wednesday.

The Judge President found that he had intent to kill his girlfriend, Mirjam Haindongo (25), when he stabbed her 35 times with as many as four knives in her room at the Oshakati State Hospital Nurses' on March 13 2003, before he tried unsuccessfully to commit suicide by stabbing himself in the chest.

With an earlier confession by Kashala himself, the testimony of an eyewitness who told the court that she saw him stab Haindongo in the neck, and also letters - appearing to be suicide notes - written by Kashala before the incident included in the evidence before the court, the Judge President rejected Kashala's denials of guilt and convicted him as charged.

"The letters were intended as a suicide note," Judge President Damaseb found when he convicted Kashala.

"The accused clearly resolved to kill the deceased and then himself and set about on 12 March 2003 to put that plan into effect.

The way the letters were left on his bed (in a way that they could be easily found) strengthens the view that they were intended as suicide notes to be retrieved by his family or close associates and to provide an explanation why he killed the deceased and then took his own life," the Judge President stated.

"The letters are indeed chilling and speak volumes about the state of mind of (Kashala) around the time of the death of (Haindongo)," he also commented.

"The letters really speak for themselves."

What the letters show, is that Kashala was consumed by worries over erectile problems in the time before the incident, and that he was blaming Haindongo for this problem.

In one of the letters, addressed "to my parents" and dated 03.03.12, he had written: "Sorry for losing control, myself as from 21 February I notice a problem with my 'manhood' (penis) as it was not erecting.

(...) Up to now that I have lost my manhood and it is not erecting.

(...) I was on the phone I was quarrelling with Meriam Haindongo, asking her to bring my manhood, if she does not want me to beat her."

He had also written: "Meriam said that she left me and I have accepted it, but I told her to bring my manhood back before 14 March.

If the date comes and she has not done it, I will let her see.

(...) How can you be with impotent manhood while the person who has it is just quiet, there is not such a thing not at all."

In another, undated letter, he had written: "What brought me in this situation is because I like women very much and it seems they are the ones to cause my downfall.

Do not leave to mention it in my biography please."

During the sentencing yesterday, the Judge President told Kashala: "You killed the deceased in the most brutal way by stabbing her 35 times.

It is clear from the proven facts that you were experiencing some problem with your sexual drive and held the deceased responsible for that."

He added: "What aggravates your crime is that I sense in your conduct the macho impulse to avenge a perceived loss of sexual drive.

You harboured a misplaced sense of grievance against the deceased for that and arrogated to yourself the right to end her life, which is the most divine gift of all.

That is clear from the letters you wrote."

He told Kashala: "You clearly are a danger to women and to society at large.

Society needs protection from you."

While Kashala has not shown any remorse for the crime, the Judge President said, the court still had to try to blend its sentence with mercy as far as was humanly possible.

He said he would treat it as an extenuating factor that Kashala appears to have been affected by being rejected by Haindongo.

"The court must show a perceptive understanding of the accused's human frailties when considering possible extenuating circumstances," the Judge President said.

In sentencing Kashala to 21 years' imprisonment, he was giving Kashala credit for the two years and seven months that he had already spent in prison awaiting trial, Judge President Damaseb also said.

Legal Aid Directorate counsel Patience Daringo represented Kashala during the trial.

State advocate Innocentia Nyoni prosecuted.

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