Drunken state no excuse for murder

AN attempt to rely on a defence of amnesia due to extreme drunkenness has failed to get Okakarara resident Nahson Muvangua off the hook on a murder charge in the High Court in Windhoek.

In a judgement delivered yesterday, Judge Naomi Shivute found Muvangua (35) guilty of the murder of his girlfriend, Liendia Kohange Kujakue (29), on September 3 2006.Kujakue was stabbed to death in her home at Okakarara. She also suffered burn wounds.At the start of his trial, Muvangua stated in a plea explanation that he had no recollection of what happened while he was at Kujakue’s house in the early morning hours of September 3 2006, after he had spent the evening at a shebeen.He claimed to have spent the previous day and evening drinking, and stated that he was ’emotionally disintegrated, enraged and felt deceived’ by Kujakue. He claimed his relationship with Kujakue was going through a rough patch after he had caught her in bed with another man.Muvangua claimed that because of his mental state at the time of the incident he could not be held accountable for his actions.Muvangua did not testify in his own defence during the trial.In her judgement, Judge Shivute said the evidence before the court points to Muvangua as having been the perpetrator of a vicious attack on Kujakue.According an autopsy report that is part of the evidence in the trial Kujakue was stabbed eight times. One of the stab wounds penetrated into her heart.During a bail application before his trial, Muvangua testified that he could not remember anything about the fatal incident, the judge noted.He only mentioned that he was under the influence of alcohol when he was pointedly asked about that, but did not say how much alcohol he had consumed or what type it was, Judge Shivute said. He also did not mention anything about alleged infidelity on the part of Kujakue, she added.On the defence about his mental state and alleged drunkenness that Muvangua raised, Judge Shivute commented that a defence of intoxication, like insanity, cannot be accepted lightly by a court.She said it is not enough for an accused person to say he had a blackout or lost consciousness, as such a defence cannot be plucked out of the air and offered to the prosecution. A basis must be laid for such a defence, she said.The fact that a drunk person cannot remember his acts does not mean that he lacked criminal capacity, she continued.Judge Shivute said she was not satisfied that Muvangua laid a legal basis for the defence he raised. She concluded that he should be held accountable for his actions.In Muvangua’s case, his drinking on the evening before the stabbing appears to have been a tool aimed at helping him commit the crime, rather than an excuse that could explain the crime, she indicated. ‘It appears to me that the accused consumed alcohol in order to get Dutch courage to kill the deceased,’ she said.Considering the type of weapon Muvangua was seen with in Kujakue’s house – a knife – and the number of stab wounds inflicted on Kujakue and the parts of her body where the stab wounds were found, Judge Shivute concluded that he had direct intent to kill her.Muvangua is scheduled to return to court tomorrow for the hearing of arguments and possible further evidence before he will be sentenced.State advocate Simba Nduna is prosecuting. Muvangua, who remains in custody, is being represented by Profysen Muluti.