NEWS - NAMIBIA
| 2013-07-26Child killer gets sentencing date
Werner Menges
A MALTAHÖHE area farm resident convicted of murdering his girlfriend’s four-year-old daughter is due to be sentenced in early August.
Defence lawyer Boris Isaacks asked Judge Naomi Shivute in the Windhoek High Court yesterday to impose a “relatively short period of imprisonment” on his client, Niklaas Muzorongondo, when she sentences him. A long prison term would not serve justice, Isaacks argued.
Muzorongondo (32) has shown genuine remorse over the crimes of which he was convicted, Isaacks argued. It is crystal clear that the murder that he committed was not premeditated, he said.
On behalf of the prosecution, Deputy Prosecutor General Belinda Wantenaar argued that – although Muzorongondo did not use any weapon when he committed the murder – the life of his victim, Antoinete !Aes, was taken away in a brutal manner.
!Aes was young and vulnerable, and had been left in the care of Muzorongondo before he killed her, Wantenaar said.
“It is sad to note that violence against women and children is continuing unabated in Namibia, even though the courts are imposing heavy sentences on those convicted of these kind of crimes,” Wantenaar remarked.
The sentencing is due to take place on 6 August.
Judge Shivute found Muzorongondo guilty on counts of murder and defeating or obstructing the course of justice five weeks ago.
Muzorongondo was accused of having murdered !Aes at Rooidam, a farm in the Maltahöhe area, while she was in his care from 7 to 13 March 2010.
In his plea at the start of his trial Muzorongondo admitted that he assaulted !Aes at Rooidam on the evening of 9 March 2010. His explanation was that he carried out the assault because she had been crying, and he wanted her to quieten down.
Muzorongondo admitted that he punched the crying child in the abdomen and then picked her up and threw her to the ground, where she hit a cement floor head first.
He stated that he then put her in her bed, and was shocked to discover the next morning that she had died during the night.
He then buried her in a shallow grave in the yard of the farmhouse, where she was found three days later, after he admitted that he had buried her.
!Aes died as a result of a skull fracture, the court has been told.
When he testified in mitigation of sentence after he had been found guilty, Muzorongondo told the judge that he wanted to apologise to the court, God, and the community at large, and that he wanted to ask for forgiveness from the court.
He said he has already apologised to !Aes’s mother as well, and that she has forgiven him.
Muzorongondo, who is the father of two children, has been in custody since his arrest on 13 March 2010.
Defence lawyer Boris Isaacks asked Judge Naomi Shivute in the Windhoek High Court yesterday to impose a “relatively short period of imprisonment” on his client, Niklaas Muzorongondo, when she sentences him. A long prison term would not serve justice, Isaacks argued.
Muzorongondo (32) has shown genuine remorse over the crimes of which he was convicted, Isaacks argued. It is crystal clear that the murder that he committed was not premeditated, he said.
On behalf of the prosecution, Deputy Prosecutor General Belinda Wantenaar argued that – although Muzorongondo did not use any weapon when he committed the murder – the life of his victim, Antoinete !Aes, was taken away in a brutal manner.
!Aes was young and vulnerable, and had been left in the care of Muzorongondo before he killed her, Wantenaar said.
“It is sad to note that violence against women and children is continuing unabated in Namibia, even though the courts are imposing heavy sentences on those convicted of these kind of crimes,” Wantenaar remarked.
The sentencing is due to take place on 6 August.
Judge Shivute found Muzorongondo guilty on counts of murder and defeating or obstructing the course of justice five weeks ago.
Muzorongondo was accused of having murdered !Aes at Rooidam, a farm in the Maltahöhe area, while she was in his care from 7 to 13 March 2010.
In his plea at the start of his trial Muzorongondo admitted that he assaulted !Aes at Rooidam on the evening of 9 March 2010. His explanation was that he carried out the assault because she had been crying, and he wanted her to quieten down.
Muzorongondo admitted that he punched the crying child in the abdomen and then picked her up and threw her to the ground, where she hit a cement floor head first.
He stated that he then put her in her bed, and was shocked to discover the next morning that she had died during the night.
He then buried her in a shallow grave in the yard of the farmhouse, where she was found three days later, after he admitted that he had buried her.
!Aes died as a result of a skull fracture, the court has been told.
When he testified in mitigation of sentence after he had been found guilty, Muzorongondo told the judge that he wanted to apologise to the court, God, and the community at large, and that he wanted to ask for forgiveness from the court.
He said he has already apologised to !Aes’s mother as well, and that she has forgiven him.
Muzorongondo, who is the father of two children, has been in custody since his arrest on 13 March 2010.
