A WEEK after being found guilty of murdering a teacher near Oshakati last year and using her hijacked bakkie as a taxi until his arrest three days later, 26-year-old Bonifatius Konstantinus was ordered to spend the rest of his life in jail yesterday.
Acting Judge John Manyarara sentenced Konstantinus to an effective 55 years’ imprisonment for a series of events that unfolded between March 1 and 4 last year, and which resulted in the death of 37-year-old Wilhelmine Nangula Amukwaya Tshafa. Konstantinus admitted during his trial that he killed Tshafa by shooting her in the chest with a shotgun.He said he had stolen the murder weapon and ammunition from his employer, 901 Security Force and Debt Collectors, a day before the murder.Konstantinus stopped the Toyota Hilux bakkie driven by Tshafa and ordered her to get out.Also in the vehicle was Tshafa’s four-year-old son, Heinrich.Konstantinus admitted shooting Tshafa once in the chest and throwing her out of the bakkie.He then threw the boy out of the vehicle and drove off.Konstantinus was arrested two days later at a roadblock near Etunda.He admitted in the court that he had used the stolen bakkie as a taxi.Acting Judge Manyarara sentenced Konstantinus to 35 years’ imprisonment for the murder of Tshafa and eight years’ imprisonment on a charge of robbery with aggravating circumstances.For the theft and illegal possession of a rifle and five rounds of ammunition, Konstantinus was sentenced to seven more years behind bars.For throwing Heinrich Tshafa out of the bakkie, he was sentenced to five years in prison on a charge of assault with intent to do grievous bodily harm.This charge had originally been one of attempted murder, but Konstantinus admitted guilt on the assault charge instead.The sentences were ordered to run consecutively.Manyarara rejected a plea for mercy by the defence on the grounds that Konstantinus was remorseful over his actions.Defence lawyer Unanisa Hengari had asked for a sentence of no more than 20 years on the murder charge, and for the robbery sentence to run concurrently with this.He also asked for the rest of the sentences to be suspended.Manyarara said however that he found the Konstantinus’s statement to be “blood-curdling and devoid of any remorse”.He pointed to the fact that a young child was forced to witness the murder of his mother, something he said was severely traumatising.”To add insult to injury, the accused tossed the little boy onto his mother’s corpse like garbage,” the Judge stated.Manyarara also noted that Konstantinus had been convicted on a charge of driving a motor vehicle without the owner’s consent shortly before his arrest in this case.”This shows the accused’s addiction to motor cars and his contempt for the law, for human life and for other people’s property, which must now be nipped in the bud,” he said.Konstantinus admitted during his trial that he killed Tshafa by shooting her in the chest with a shotgun.He said he had stolen the murder weapon and ammunition from his employer, 901 Security Force and Debt Collectors, a day before the murder.Konstantinus stopped the Toyota Hilux bakkie driven by Tshafa and ordered her to get out.Also in the vehicle was Tshafa’s four-year-old son, Heinrich.Konstantinus admitted shooting Tshafa once in the chest and throwing her out of the bakkie.He then threw the boy out of the vehicle and drove off.Konstantinus was arrested two days later at a roadblock near Etunda.He admitted in the court that he had used the stolen bakkie as a taxi.Acting Judge Manyarara sentenced Konstantinus to 35 years’ imprisonment for the murder of Tshafa and eight years’ imprisonment on a charge of robbery with aggravating circumstances.For the theft and illegal possession of a rifle and five rounds of ammunition, Konstantinus was sentenced to seven more years behind bars.For throwing Heinrich Tshafa out of the bakkie, he was sentenced to five years in prison on a charge of assault with intent to do grievous bodily harm.This charge had originally been one of attempted murder, but Konstantinus admitted guilt on the assault charge instead.The sentences were ordered to run consecutively.Manyarara rejected a plea for mercy by the defence on the grounds that Konstantinus was remorseful over his actions.Defence lawyer Unanisa Hengari had asked for a sentence of no more than 20 years on the murder charge, and for the robbery sentence to run concurrently with this.He also asked for the rest of the sentences to be suspended.Manyarara said however that he found the Konstantinus’s statement to be “blood-curdling and devoid of any remorse”.He pointed to the fact that a young child was forced to witness the murder of his mother, something he said was severely traumatising.”To add insult to injury, the accused tossed the little boy onto his mother’s corpse like garbage,” the Judge stated.Manyarara also noted that Konstantinus had been convicted on a charge of driving a motor vehicle without the owner’s consent shortly before his arrest in this case.”This shows the accused’s addiction to motor cars and his contempt for the law, for human life and for other people’s property, which must now be nipped in the bud,” he said.
