54 years behind bars for Keetmans double killer

SELF-CONFESSED double killer and rapist Lourensus Goliath was sentenced to an effective prison term of 54 years yesterday.

Goliath left the High Court in Windhoek carrying the burden of a total of 76 years of imprisonment after Judge Gerhard Maritz sentenced him on two counts of murder, a charge of rape, and a count of attempted murder. With parts of the sentences on three of the charges ordered to run together with sentences on other charges, the 27-year-old Goliath left the court with the bleak prospect of an effective 54-year jail term stretching ahead of him.”Life in prison is no holiday,” the Judge told him during the sentencing.”As you are about to discover, it is hard.”Goliath was sentenced for murdering two residents of a smallholding near Keetmanshoop, Lukas Isaacks (65) and Magrieta Tiboth (51), for raping Tiboth, and for trying to murder the son-in-law of the murdered couple, Rudolf Jossob, at the plot Meyersrus some six kilometres from Keetmanshoop on February 18 last year.For the murder of Isaacks, Judge Maritz sentenced him to 25 years’ imprisonment.He imposed a second 25-year prison term for the murder of Tiboth, but ordered that 10 years of this term should be served concurrently with the term for the murder of Isaacks.On the charge of raping Tiboth, the Judge sentenced Goliath to 20 years’ imprisonment – five years more than the minimum sentence prescribed by the Combating of Rape Act.Judge Maritz ordered that 10 years of this term should run together with the sentence for the murder of Goliath.The court heard this week that Goliath had raped Tiboth twice before killing her.He first raped her after he had killed Isaacks.Then he took her back to the house where he had murdered her husband, forced her to up the blood, and then forced back to a riverbed, where he raped her again.She pleaded with Goliath not to kill her, but she must have known by then that he would kill her too, Judge Maritz commented yesterday.”Not satisfied with having taken her dignity and violated her person, you took her life as well,” the Judge told Goliath.A six-year jail sentence, of which four years will run together with the 25-year term for the murder of Isaacks, was imposed for the attempted murder of Jossob.In a statement given by Goliath’s lawyer when he pleaded guilty on all four charges on Monday, Goliath said he had killed Tiboth because he did not want her to report the rape to the Police.He said he tried to murder Jossob because he did not want Jossob to report his crimes.Goliath gave no reason for the murder of Isaacks.This prompted Judge Maritz to remark yesterday: “The motive for the murder of Mr Isaacks is concealed in your heart.The court is at best left to speculate.”Although he suspected that Goliath killed Isaacks because he had planned all along to rape Tiboth and he wanted to remove Isaacks as a hurdle to this, he did not take this into account when deciding on the sentence, the Judge said.He remarked: “Whatever your motive was, your deed remained a violent and repulsive one.”What was most distressing about Goliath’s crimes, said the Judge, was that he knew his victims and they had welcomed him to their home by giving him tea and sharing their tobacco with him.That was not enough for Goliath; he also took their lives, the Judge remarked.State advocate Trudi de Villiers acted for the prosecution during the trial this week.Unanisa Hengari represented Goliath.With parts of the sentences on three of the charges ordered to run together with sentences on other charges, the 27-year-old Goliath left the court with the bleak prospect of an effective 54-year jail term stretching ahead of him.”Life in prison is no holiday,” the Judge told him during the sentencing.”As you are about to discover, it is hard.”Goliath was sentenced for murdering two residents of a smallholding near Keetmanshoop, Lukas Isaacks (65) and Magrieta Tiboth (51), for raping Tiboth, and for trying to murder the son-in-law of the murdered couple, Rudolf Jossob, at the plot Meyersrus some six kilometres from Keetmanshoop on February 18 last year.For the murder of Isaacks, Judge Maritz sentenced him to 25 years’ imprisonment.He imposed a second 25-year prison term for the murder of Tiboth, but ordered that 10 years of this term should be served concurrently with the term for the murder of Isaacks.On the charge of raping Tiboth, the Judge sentenced Goliath to 20 years’ imprisonment – five years more than the minimum sentence prescribed by the Combating of Rape Act. Judge Maritz ordered that 10 years of this term should run together with the sentence for the murder of Goliath.The court heard this week that Goliath had raped Tiboth twice before killing her.He first raped her after he had killed Isaacks.Then he took her back to the house where he had murdered her husband, forced her to up the blood, and then forced back to a riverbed, where he raped her again.She pleaded with Goliath not to kill her, but she must have known by then that he would kill her too, Judge Maritz commented yesterday.”Not satisfied with having taken her dignity and violated her person, you took her life as well,” the Judge told Goliath.A six-year jail sentence, of which four years will run together with the 25-year term for the murder of Isaacks, was imposed for the attempted murder of Jossob.In a statement given by Goliath’s lawyer when he pleaded guilty on all four charges on Monday, Goliath said he had killed Tiboth because he did not want her to report the rape to the Police.He said he tried to murder Jossob because he did not want Jossob to report his crimes.Goliath gave no reason for the murder of Isaacks.This prompted Judge Maritz to remark yesterday: “The motive for the murder of Mr Isaacks is concealed in your heart.The court is at best left to speculate.”Although he suspected that Goliath killed Isaacks because he had planned all along to rape Tiboth and he wanted to remove Isaacks as a hurdle to this, he did not take this into account when deciding on the sentence, the Judge said.He remarked: “Whatever your motive was, your deed remained a violent and repulsive one.”What was most distressing about Goliath’s crimes, said the Judge, was that he knew his victims and they had welcomed him to their home by giving him tea and sharing their tobacco with him.That was not enough for Goliath; he also took their lives, the Judge remarked.State advocate Trudi de Villiers acted for the prosecution during the trial this week.Unanisa Hengari represented Goliath.