Hansie Losper guilty of murder

THE claim by murder suspect Gert Hermanus (‘Hansie’) Losper that he was in a state of “sane automatism” when he shot dead his wife at Karibib about three years ago was rejected in the High Court in Windhoek last week Judge Collins Parker convicted Losper (56) on a count of murder on Wednesday last week.

He acquitted Losper on a second charge that he had faced – a count of assault by threat, in which it was alleged that Losper had also threatened to kill the daughter of his late wife on the evening that four gunshot wounds claimed his wife’s life in her brother’s house at Karibib. Losper’s wife, Elizabeth Maria Snyders (41), died on the evening of December 8 2004 after she had been shot once in the neck and three times in the chest.All the shots were fired at close range, it was found in a post-mortem examination.Losper pleaded not guilty to both charges at the start of his trial on November 5.In a plea explanation, he stated that he had travelled from Cape Town on the day before the incident to visit his wife at Karibib.He did not eat or use his medication on the way – he has diabetes and heart problems, Losper stated – and drank “a few beers” on the road and three double whiskies at a bar after his arrival at Karibib, Losper related in his plea.He stated that after he had met his wife at Karibib, she informed him that she wanted a divorce.He was shocked and saddened by this news, and started crying, Losper stated.The first thing he could remember after this, was one of his wife’s daughters saying to him, “Daddy, daddy, stop,” Losper claimed.In his testimony later in the trial, he further claimed that he had been in “a trance” most of the time on the evening of the shooting.Part of the testimony that Judge Parker heard during the trial came from a 12-year-old boy who at the time of the incident was lying in bed in one of the rooms of the house where the fatal shooting took place.He testified that after hearing one shot ring out, the house went quiet and he heard Losper leaving.A while later, Losper returned and the boy heard another three shots going off.Judge Parker also heard evidence that after Snyders had been found lying in a pool of blood in the house, with Losper – who had shot himself in an alleged failed suicide bid – lying on top of her, a letter was found on a table in the lounge of the house.The letter was written by Losper, was dated December 6 2004 – two days before the incident – and was addressed to the Snyders family.In the letter, Losper berated the family for supposedly having put pressure on his wife to divorce him and for treating him “like a dog”, declared his love for his wife, and at one stage told his wife’s family: “(Y)ou yourself accomplished this.”During the trial, Losper claimed he had written the letter only after the incident, after he had woken from a coma in a hospital, with the date having been given to him by another patient.With several witnesses however having testified about the presence of a letter at the scene of the shooting on the night of the incident, Judge Parker found “without a shadow of doubt” that Losper had written the letter before arriving at the house where the shooting took place.He rejected Losper’s evidence on that issue as “patently false”.On the shooting itself, Judge Parker stated: “I come to the ineluctable conclusion that the shooting of the deceased was a focused, goal-directed action.The accused did not shoot the deceased once; he shot her, left her to die, and then returned and pumped not one, not two but three more bullets into her – all directed to her upper chest, a very vulnerable part of the human anatomy.All the evidence point to this indubitable conclusion: that the killing of the deceased was brutal, calculated and, above all, strategically planned: it bears all the hallmarks of a premeditated killing.”The Judge also stated: “I am not at all persuaded that during the carrying out of the cold-blooded acts the accused was confused or in a trance.The beer that the accused said he consumed in South Africa and the whisky that he said he consumed in Namibia cannot, in my view, change anything.If the accused was confused and in a coma he could have been shooting about aimlessly in a flailing manner, almost indiscriminately, and the deceased would have been caught by chance by some stray bullets or bullets that were not aimed at anything in particular.”Judge Parker said the evidence before him prompted him to find that Losper had made a conscious decision in South Africa to travel to Namibia to kill Snyders.To do this, he packed a revolver in his luggage and, as part of his “diabolical scheme”, did not declare the gun when he crossed the border into Namibia.After Losper’s arrival at Karibib, “his anger and frustration was heightened when (Snyders) told him in his face that she was planning to divorce him”, the Judge said.He stated: “The result is that in my judgment he succumbed to the temptation of killing (Snyders) because she was no longer interested in him, and he cannot escape criminal responsibility for his actions: he did not act in a state of automatism.”Losper had been free on bail while awaiting his trial and while the trial was in progress.He is now in custody, after Judge Parker revoked his bail in the wake of the verdict on Wednesday.Losper is scheduled to return to court tomorrow for the hearing of evidence and arguments before his sentencing.He is being represented by Legal Aid Directorate counsel Duard Kesslau.State advocate Belinda Wantenaar is prosecuting.Losper’s wife, Elizabeth Maria Snyders (41), died on the evening of December 8 2004 after she had been shot once in the neck and three times in the chest.All the shots were fired at close range, it was found in a post-mortem examination.Losper pleaded not guilty to both charges at the start of his trial on November 5.In a plea explanation, he stated that he had travelled from Cape Town on the day before the incident to visit his wife at Karibib.He did not eat or use his medication on the way – he has diabetes and heart problems, Losper stated – and drank “a few beers” on the road and three double whiskies at a bar after his arrival at Karibib, Losper related in his plea.He stated that after he had met his wife at Karibib, she informed him that she wanted a divorce.He was shocked and saddened by this news, and started crying, Losper stated.The first thing he could remember after this, was one of his wife’s daughters saying to him, “Daddy, daddy, stop,” Losper claimed.In his testimony later in the trial, he further claimed that he had been in “a trance” most of the time on the evening of the shooting.Part of the testimony that Judge Parker heard during the trial came from a 12-year-old boy who at the time of the incident was lying in bed in one of the rooms of the house where the fatal shooting took place.He testified that after hearing one shot ring out, the house went quiet and he heard Losper leaving.A while later, Losper returned and the boy heard another three shots going off.Judge Parker also heard evidence that after Snyders had been found lying in a pool of blood in the house, with Losper – who had shot himself in an alleged failed suicide bid – lying on top of her, a letter was found on a table in the lounge of the house.The letter was written by Losper, was dated December 6 2004 – two days before the incident – and was addressed to the Snyders family.In the letter, Losper berated the family for supposedly having put pressure on his wife to divorce him and for treating him “like a dog”, declared his love for his wife, and at one stage told his wife’s family: “(Y)ou yourself accomplished this.”During the trial, Losper claimed he had written the letter only after the incident, after he had woken from a coma in a hospital, with the date having been given to him by another patient.With several witnesses however having testified about the presence of a letter at the scene of the shooting on the night of the incident, Judge Parker found “without a shadow of doubt” that Losper had written the letter before arriving at the house where the shooting took place.He rejected Losper’s evidence on that issue as “patently false”.On the shooting itself, Judge Parker stated: “I come to the ineluctable conclusion that the shooting of the deceased was a focused, goal-directed action.The accused did not shoot the deceased once; he shot her, left her to die, and then returned and pumped not one, not two but three more bullets into her – all directed to her upper chest, a very vulnerable part of the human anatomy.All the evidence point to this indubitable conclusion: that the killing of the deceased was brutal, calculated and, above all, strategically planned: it bears all the hallmarks of a premeditated killing.”The Judge also stated: “I am not at all persuaded that during the carrying out of the cold-blooded acts the accused was confused or in a trance.The beer that the accused said he consumed in South Africa and the whisky that he said he consumed in Namibia cannot, in my view, change anything.If the accused was confused and in a coma he could have been shooting about aimlessly in a flailing manner, almost indiscriminately, and the deceased would have been caught by chance by some stray bullets or bullets that were not aimed at anything in particular.”Judge Parker said the evidence before him prompted him to find that Losper had made a conscious decision in South Africa to travel to Namibia to kill Snyders.To do this, he packed a revolver in his luggage and, as part of his “diabolical scheme”, did not declare the gun when he crossed the border into Namibia.After Losper’s arrival at Karibib, “his anger and frustration was heightened when (Snyders) told him in his face that she was planning to divorce him”, the Judge said.He stated: “The result is that in my judgment he succumbed to the temptation of killing (Snyders) because she was no longer interested in him, and he cannot escape criminal responsibility for his actions: he did not act in a state of automatism.”Losper had been free on bail while awaiting his trial and while the trial was in progress.He is now in custody, after Judge Parker revoked his bail in the wake of the verdict on Wednesday.Losper is scheduled to return to court tomorrow for the hearing of evidence and arguments before his sentencing.He is being represented by Legal Aid Directorate counsel Duard Kesslau.State advocate Belinda Wantenaar is prosecuting.