Axe killer jailed for 44 years

WALVIS Bay axe killer Wilbard Uushona Mbavu received a heavy prison term of 44 years in the High Court in Windhoek yesterday.

Five days after Mbavu (29) had told Judge Sylvester Mainga that he was guilty of murder and robbery with aggravating circumstances in connection with a gruesome murder that was committed at Walvis Bay on March 13 2007, Mbavu’s trial came to an end with Judge Mainga sentencing him to a 35-year prison term for murder and nine years’ imprisonment for robbery.Mbavu’s killing of Walvis Bay resident Gerda van Heerden (44) and the robbery in which he stole a cellphone, N$400 in cash and a .38 Smith & Wesson revolver from Van Heerden after he had used an axe to murder her, are crimes that ‘brutal and senseless; a wanton disregard for other people’s rights’, Judge Mainga told Mbavu during the sentencing.Like many other criminals Mbavu was ‘inconsiderate, selfish and without respect for human life and others’ properties’ when he set off from his home on the morning of March 13 2007 to the residence of Van Heerden, Judge Mainga said.Having been a colleague of Mbavu previously, and planning to go into an upholstery business with him, an unsuspecting Van Heerden swung the doors of her residence open to Mbavu when he rang her doorbell, the Judge recounted.According to Mbavu’s testimony during his trial, he got angry when Van Heerden, after he had asked her for money, told him that she had nothing for him.The day after his arrest on March 15 2007, though, Mbavu related in a confession to a Magistrate that he took an axe and attacked Van Heerden after she had given him N$100 and indicated to him that he would not be getting any more. Judge Mainga accepted this version as closer to the truth. It was because Mbavu wanted more than the N$100 that Van Heerden had given him, and wanted unhindered access to other goods belonging to Van Heerden, that he then launched the attack on her, the Judge remarked.He commented: ‘One can no more say he or she is safe in the comfort zones of his or her home. Like in the present case, deceased was murdered in her own home after she has opened doors of her residence to the accused, a person who was well known to her.’She had helped Mbavu with money while he was jobless, but instead of being appreciated, she was killed so that Mbavu could get hold of more of her possessions, the Judge stated, before commenting: ‘How evil, a total disregard for human life and other people’s properties.’Mbavu told the court on Monday that he was unmarried and the father of two children, aged 12 and seven. Having been working as an upholsterer previously, and again getting a similar job after his release on bail of N$3 000 in August last year, Mbavu has been supporting his children, his pensioner mother and siblings and his unemployed girlfriend, the court also heard.Judge Mainga was also told that Van Heerden’s death had a devastating effect on her husband and three children. Van Heerden was described to the court as the kingpin of her family, the Judge recounted: ‘Once accused had violently taken her away from them the whole universe crumbled before them.’Any mitigating factors far outweighed aggravating factors, the Judge said.Before announcing his jail terms, Judge Mainga also commented on the fact that Mbavu had been granted bail in August. That should never have happened, he indicated: ‘In my view, this was a clear case where bail should have been vigorously opposed and bail refused in the interest of the public or the administration of justice.’Mbavu was represented by Legal Aid Directorate lawyer Duard Kesslau. Deputy Prosecutor General Antonia Verhoef prosecuted.