Gobabis man found guilty of murder after fatal bakkie crash

A Gobabis resident who fatally injured a woman in a car collision two years ago could foresee the possibility that he would kill someone when he crashed the pickup he was driving into the side of a stationary car, a judge said in the Windhoek High Court yesterday.

Denzil Dawids (25) “foresaw a fatal outcome and acted with a conscious and reckless disregard for human life”, acting judge Makapa Simasiku said in a judgement in which he found Dawids guilty on a charge of murder, committed without a direct intention to kill.

Simasiku also convicted Dawids on two counts of attempted murder, three charges of assault and one count of malicious damage to property.

Dawids was prosecuted in connection with incidents that took place at Gobabis during the early morning hours of 1 October 2023.

During one of those incidents, a fellow resident of Gobabis, Yolande McCullum (38), was fatally injured when she was struck by a bakkie driven by Dawids.

The fatal incident took place after Dawids had been involved in an altercation with a group of young men at a bar at Gobabis.
That altercation happened after Dawids had been asked to stop spinning the wheels of his bakkie outside the bar.

Dawids was assaulted during the incident at the bar, and thereafter followed the car in which the people he had clashed with left the bar.

According to Dawids, he followed the car because the people had taken his wallet and an iPhone smartphone from him.

He crashed into the side of their car when he found their vehicle standing in the Nossobville area of Gobabis.

McCullum was struck when she jumped in front of the oncoming bakkie to push her son out of the vehicle’s path.

Simasiku found that Dawids attempted to kill two men – one of them a son of McCullum – when he aimed his pickup at the stationary car, where the two men were standing, and drove into the vehicle.

The fact that McCullum, and not her son, died does not nullify Dawids’ intent, Simasiku said.

He noted that “a mistake in the victim’s identity does not change the fact that the accused formed an intent to kill a human being”.

Simasiku also noted that Dawids made a remark after the collision that he did not care whom he had struck with his vehicle.

Simasiku added: “As such the court finds the accused to have foreseen the possibility of death eventuating, however, indifferent, he recklessly proceeded with his act, and thus, he is found to have intent in the form of dolus eventualis.”

Dawids, who is being held in custody, has to return to court on 30 September for a presentence hearing.

He is being represented by defence lawyer Sisa Namandje, assisted by Karel Gaeb.
State advocate Basson Lilungwe is prosecuting.

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