Endjala (30), who had been a sales manager at a supermarket in Windhoek, pleaded guilty to four counts of attempted murder when his trial started before Magistrate Sarel Jacobs in the Windhoek Regional Court on February 26.

He admitted that on October 20 2006 he tried to kill his wife, Prescilla Endjala, her sister, Dorothy Gatyeni, and two of his and his wife's three children - a son then aged eight and a daughter who was almost a year and a half old - by shooting them with a 9 mm Makarov pistol at the Endjala couple's rented flat in Khomasdal.

Mrs Endjala was shot in the chest, her sister was struck in the abdomen, the Endjalas' daughter was wounded in the stomach and their son was struck in his left leg.

Endjala's lawyer, Sisa Namandje, told the Magistrate that Endjala had been drinking alcohol beforehand and was under emotional stress because of a threat from his wife, who had told him she was going to leave him.

The shooting was a result of a combination of this drinking and the Endjala's emotional state, Namandje argued.

He also told the court that Endjala felt remorse over the incident.

Magistrate Jacobs commented during sentencing yesterday that having seen Endjala's behaviour in court and heard him apologising to the victims, he was satisfied that Endjala indeed felt remorse.

At the same time, though, there was no doubt that the community must view the crimes Endjala committed with abhorrence, the Magistrate said.

Addressing Endjala directly, Magistrate Jacobs remarked: "You attempted to take the lives of four innocent people and nearly destroyed a family in one fell swoop."

People who had looked up to Endjala as a husband and father for protection instead nearly had their lives taken by him, the Magistrate said.

There was no evidence to show that Endjala's irrational behaviour on the day of the shooting was as a result of his drinking to the extent that he was unable to exercise restraint and self-control.

Magistrate Jacobs added that people experienced some form of emotional stress for various reasons on a daily basis, and that society expected that in such situations people would still exercise self-control and restraint and would not harm others.

He sentenced Endjala to four years' imprisonment on the first count of attempted murder that he admitted.

He further sentenced Endjala to four-year prison terms, of which three years were ordered to run concurrently with the sentence on the first charge, on each of the other three counts, resulting in an effective jail term of seven years.

Endjala had been in custody for over a year and five months since his arrest on the evening after the shooting.

Public Prosecutor Brownwell Uirab represented the State.

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