A MAN accused of murdering two people in separate knife-stabbing incidents at Gobabis was found guilty on nine criminal charges in the Windhoek High Court yesterday.
The charges on which acting judge Makapa Simasiku convicted John Mutirua (23) include two counts of murder, two charges of rape, two counts of attempted murder and a charge of attempted rape.
Mutirua stood trial on 14 charges, on which he denied guilt when his trial started in May this year.
Simasiku found Mutirua not guilty on five of the charges: two counts of rape, a charge of abduction and two counts of kidnapping.
The state alleged that Mutirua abducted or kidnapped a nine-year-old girl, as well as two boys, aged 10 and eight, at Gobabis on 23 September 2018.
It was also alleged that Mutirua raped the girl four times and caused one of the boys to commit a sexual act with her, before he fled the scene where he had tied up the children.
Mutirua was arrested six days after the incident.
After appearing in court, he was released from custody.
Some two years after that first incident, Mutirua murdered Meno Tjizera (19) in the Epako area of Gobabis during the night of 30 to 31 October 2020, the state alleged.
Tjizera died after he had been stabbed in the chest at a wedding celebration where he was a guest.
It was also alleged that Mutirua tried to kill another man after the fatal stabbing by stabbing that man in the head.
The second murder charge Mutirua was facing originated from an incident at Gobabis on 16 July 2023, when Mutirua was free on bail and Albertus Maasdorp (37), was robbed and killed when he was stabbed in the chest.
Mutirua had stabbed another man in the shoulder and threatened that he was going to kill Maasdorp before he stabbed him, Simasiku recounted in his judgement.
Simasiku said Mutirua denied he raped the girl on 23 September 2018.
However, the girl and the two boys who were with her when she was raped identified Mutirua as the assailant, and DNA test results showed Mutirua’s DNA was found on the girl’s private parts and underwear, Simasiku recounted.
The identification of Mutirua in connection with the rape of the girl is conclusive, he said.
Simasiku also said the state proved that Mutirua carried out a series of attacks using knives, and that he unlawfully killed Tjizera and Maasdorp in those attacks.
In addition to the charges of murder, rape, attempted murder and attempted rape on which Mutirua was found guilty, Simasiku convicted him on counts of robbery and attempting to defeat or obstruct the course of justice, with both those crimes committed on 16 July 2023.
Simasiku found that Mutirua robbed Maasdorp by stealing an unknown amount of money from him, and that he threw away the knife with which he had stabbed Maasdorp and another man.
Mutirua, who is being held in custody, has to return to court for a presentence hearing today.
He is being represented by defence lawyer Ileni Velikoshi.
Deputy prosecutor general Maria Shilongo is representing the state.
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