Christmas Day killergets sentencing date

A lorry driver convicted of murdering his girlfriend in a knife attack on Christmas Day in 2021 is due to be sentenced in the Windhoek High Court in May.

Judge Herman January postponed the sentencing of Henok Negodhi to 16 May at the end of a presentence hearing yesterday.

January convicted Negodhi on a charge of murder, read with the provisions of the Combating of Domestic Violence Act, at the start of November last year.

He found that Negodhi (46) murdered his domestic partner, Ndapandula Imene (38), on 25 December 2021 by stabbing her more than a dozen times with a knife at their house in the Mix settlement of Windhoek.

Imene was stabbed 16 times with a knife, including three times in the chest and five times in the abdomen.

Three children were eyewitnesses to a part of the fatal attack on Imene, which took place during the early morning hours.

The children – one of them a son of Negodhi and Imene – testified that they saw Negodhi sitting on Imene, who was lying on her back on her bed, and stabbing her repeatedly.

Negodhi told the court during his trial that he and Imene had been involved in a relationship for 13 years.

Testifying in mitigation of sentence yesterday, Negodhi said he felt bad about the incident, as he did not expect it to happen.

“Even now if I start thinking about it I just start crying,” he remarked, before becoming tearful on the witness stand.

Negodhi, who was employed by a construction company as a lorry driver before the killing, also said he wanted to ask the court, community and Imene’s family to forgive him.

A cousin of Imene, Sam Haimbodi, told the court Imene was the mother of four children and that her children are now living in poverty with their grandmother.

His wish is that Negodhi should be given a sentence that would teach him that what he had done was wrong, Haimbodi said.

Defence lawyer Tuna Nhinda argued that Negodhi, who is a first-time offender, has shown “deep and genuine remorse” for his actions.

Nhinda proposed that Negodhi should be sentenced to 25 years’ imprisonment, of which five years are suspended.

State advocate Anna Amukugo argued that Negodhi has been convicted of a serious offence that is prevalent in Namibia.

She noted that Imene was murdered in the presence of three children, who will be affected by trauma because of the violent event they witnessed.

Amukugo suggested Negodhi should be sentenced to 30 years’ imprisonment.

Negodhi has been held in custody for three years and four months since December 2021.