Kamanjab panga murder suspect convicted

THE High Court trial of a Kamanjab resident who is accused of having murdered his girlfriend in a bloody panga attack two years ago is set to end with his sentencing tomorrow.

Judge Sylvester Mainga yesterday convicted Stanley Danster (25) on a charge of murder and counts of assault with intent to do grievous bodily harm and assault by threat. Danster was charged with, and denied, murdering his girlfriend, Kalina Kambahepa (21), at Kamanjab on March 28 2004.He also faced two charges of attempted murder in which it was alleged that he had tried to kill two men who had gone to Kambahepa’s house on the evening of the incident to investigate screams and cries for help that they had heard coming from the house.Danster claimed that he had acted in self-defence after Kambahepa had attacked him in the dark with an unknown object, which he claimed he managed to take away from her and then used it to launch a counter-attack against her.Judge Mainga rejected that defence yesterday.By the time that Danster – on his own version – hit out at Kambahepa with the object that turned out to have been a panga, his life was no longer in danger, the Judge said.In any event, the court had also heard testimony during the trial that contradicted Danster’s version.One of these witnesses told the court that earlier on the day of the killing Danster had made a comment to him that he was going to kill Kambahepa and then commit suicide, because she had broken his heart, the Judge recounted in his verdict.The court had further heard testimony from three witnesses who claimed they had seen Danster attacking Kambahepa with a panga while she was lying on her stomach on the ground outside her room.He was hitting her at the back of the head with the panga, they told the court.According to the report on an autopsy that was done on Kambahepa, she was almost beheaded, and suffered severe brain injuries in the attack.”The evidence is overwhelming that when the accused murdered the deceased, he did not act in self defence,” Judge Mainga said in his judgement.He described Danster as “a brazen liar” who has, since he first appeared in the Magistrate’s Court, tried to escape liability for his deeds.The evidence of the one witness that Danster called to testify in his defence, farm massacre suspect Sylvester Beukes, was also rejected as “false, devoid of any truth”, and a fabrication.In a surprise twist in the trial, Beukes had told the court two weeks ago that he was at Kamanjab on the night in question, and had seen “a tall person”, “dark in complexion” and dressed in white, hitting a woman – presumed to be Kambahepa – with a panga that evening.He however did not see the attacker’s face, and could not say that it had been either Danster or someone else, Beukes conceded under cross-examination.The killing of Kambahepa had been very brutal, Danster’s defence counsel, Louis Karsten, conceded when Judge Mainga queried him on that issue yesterday.Karsten told the Judge that he would leave the sentence in the court’s hands, but also argued that Danster should still be given an opportunity to rectify what he had done wrong.Deputy Prosecutor General Heidi Jacobs asked the court to impose a lengthy sentence – one of not less than 45 years’ imprisonment, she suggested.Danster was charged with, and denied, murdering his girlfriend, Kalina Kambahepa (21), at Kamanjab on March 28 2004.He also faced two charges of attempted murder in which it was alleged that he had tried to kill two men who had gone to Kambahepa’s house on the evening of the incident to investigate screams and cries for help that they had heard coming from the house.Danster claimed that he had acted in self-defence after Kambahepa had attacked him in the dark with an unknown object, which he claimed he managed to take away from her and then used it to launch a counter-attack against her.Judge Mainga rejected that defence yesterday.By the time that Danster – on his own version – hit out at Kambahepa with the object that turned out to have been a panga, his life was no longer in danger, the Judge said.In any event, the court had also heard testimony during the trial that contradicted Danster’s version.One of these witnesses told the court that earlier on the day of the killing Danster had made a comment to him that he was going to kill Kambahepa and then commit suicide, because she had broken his heart, the Judge recounted in his verdict.The court had further heard testimony from three witnesses who claimed they had seen Danster attacking Kambahepa with a panga while she was lying on her stomach on the ground outside her room.He was hitting her at the back of the head with the panga, they told the court.According to the report on an autopsy that was done on Kambahepa, she was almost beheaded, and suffered severe brain injuries in the attack.”The evidence is overwhelming that when the accused murdered the deceased, he did not act in self defence,” Judge Mainga said in his judgement.He described Danster as “a brazen liar” who has, since he first appeared in the Magistrate’s Court, tried to escape liability for his deeds.The evidence of the one witness that Danster called to testify in his defence, farm massacre suspect Sylvester Beukes, was also rejected as “false, devoid of any truth”, and a fabrication.In a surprise twist in the trial, Beukes had told the court two weeks ago that he was at Kamanjab on the night in question, and had seen “a tall person”, “dark in complexion” and dressed in white, hitting a woman – presumed to be Kambahepa – with a panga that evening.He however did not see the attacker’s face, and could not say that it had been either Danster or someone else, Beukes conceded under cross-examination.The killing of Kambahepa had been very brutal, Danster’s defence counsel, Louis Karsten, conceded when Judge Mainga queried him on that issue yesterday.Karsten told the Judge that he would leave the sentence in the court’s hands, but also argued that Danster should still be given an opportunity to rectify what he had done wrong.Deputy Prosecutor General Heidi Jacobs asked the court to impose a lengthy sentence – one of not less than 45 years’ imprisonment, she suggested.