16 years for cigarette murder

By: LUQMAN CLOETE

KEETMANSHOOP resident Joel Bethuel Dausab (37), who murdered a young man over a cigarette, was sentenced to 16 years’ imprisonment by the Keetmanshoop Regional Court on Monday.

Dausab had pleaded not guilty to the murder charge.
Dausab was convicted for stabbing to death Manfred Klippert (21) near a bar in Keetmanshoop’s Tseiblaagte residential area on April 28 2008.
State witnesses told the court that Dausab had stabbed Klippert following an argument over a cigarette.
Dausab had asked Silas Basson, who was in the company of the deceased and two other friends, for a puff from his cigarette.
Basson refused to share the cigarette with Dausab and the three friends walked away.
Dausab followed them, and when Klippert asked him why he was doing so, Dausab stabbed him in the neck and fled the scene.
Regional Magistrate Sunsley Zisengwe described the murder as callous and cruel, saying that the reason was shocking and aggravated the offence.
“Life cannot be cheap and meaningless to be taken away in a casual and flippant  manner. [It] is callous and cruel for the deceased to die such a horrific and painful death for no reason. The accused’s conduct was unprovoked and unacceptable,” Zisengwe remarked.
He sentenced Dausab to 18 years’ imprisonment, of which two years were suspended for five years.
Dausab, who conducted his own defence, asked for a wholly suspended sentence.
State Prosecutor Veiko Alexander prosecuted.
luqman@namibian.com.na

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