Lover relives fatal stabbing

“I stabbed her because she’s the one who stabbed me first.”

This was one of the explanations that murder suspect Johannes Amunyela (37) offered in the High Court in Windhoek yesterday for the stabbing that left his girlfriend, Aina Niita Shiimi (26), dead from 23 stab wounds at Olukango, a village in the Ondangwa area, on July 22 2004. Amunyela testified before Judge Louis Muller on the third day of the trial in which he has pleaded not guilty to murder.He told the Judge that he and Shiimi, who was employed at an insurance company, had been involved in a relationship for eight years and had a son together by the time the stabbing took place.He said on the evening before the incident, he discovered some traditional herbs in Shiimi’s underwear.This immediately upset him, but he kept quiet about it until he also discovered some herbs in his pillowcase the next morning.He then arranged to meet Shiimi that afternoon, with the intention to drive with her to his sister and thereafter to Shiimi’s family to discuss this discovery that so upset him.On the way, a quarrel broke out between him and Shiimi, though, Amunyela related.He said she no longer wanted to go to meet their relatives; she apologised to him, and then she tried to get out of the moving car.He tried to prevent her from doing so, and in the process hit the open car door against her head, inflicting an open wound on the side of her head, he said.After he had stopped the car, Shiimi got out, taking a knife that had been left in the vehicle’s glovebox with her, and tried to run away from him, he said.He first followed her with the car, and once he had caught up with her, got out of the vehicle, chased after her and tripped her up, Amunyela said.Shiimi fell to the ground, and then she stabbed him in his left leg, he said.”She was trying to rise up and then I removed the knife out of my leg and started to stab her,” Amunyela claimed.He said he could remember stabbing her in the neck with his first blow and in the stomach with a second blow.In all, he stabbed her five or six times, he said.A medical doctor who performed a post-mortem examination on Shiimi however counted 23 stab wounds on her body.”Was it necessary at that stage to stab her?” State advocate Dominic Lisulo asked Amunyela in cross-examination during his testimony.”No,” Amunyela answered.When Lisulo asked Amunyela why he then stabbed Shiimi, he replied: “I stabbed her because I was angry and I didn’t know what I was doing.”Earlier under cross-examination he had also stated, when asked why he had stabbed Shiimi: “I became confused, because she stabbed me first.”Under cross-examination later, he said: “I stabbed her because she’s the one who stabbed me first.”He also added: “I was angry and I was confused.”After the stabbing, he saw that Shiimi was dying, and he then got back into his car and drove away, Amunyela further testified.He said his plan was to go to the Police at Ondangwa to report the incident and hand himself over, and this was what he did that evening.His intention was not to kill Shiimi, he claimed.Amunyela denied that he had told two State witnesses – including his elder sister – that he had stabbed Shiimi because she had bankrupted him and she did not want him any longer.”It destroyed my life,” Amunyela said when his defence counsel, Lucia Hamutenya, asked him how the incident had affected him.Judge Muller is set to hear arguments from Hamutenya and Lisulo today on the judgement that has to be delivered in the trial.Amunyela testified before Judge Louis Muller on the third day of the trial in which he has pleaded not guilty to murder.He told the Judge that he and Shiimi, who was employed at an insurance company, had been involved in a relationship for eight years and had a son together by the time the stabbing took place.He said on the evening before the incident, he discovered some traditional herbs in Shiimi’s underwear.This immediately upset him, but he kept quiet about it until he also discovered some herbs in his pillowcase the next morning.He then arranged to meet Shiimi that afternoon, with the intention to drive with her to his sister and thereafter to Shiimi’s family to discuss this discovery that so upset him.On the way, a quarrel broke out between him and Shiimi, though, Amunyela related.He said she no longer wanted to go to meet their relatives; she apologised to him, and then she tried to get out of the moving car. He tried to prevent her from doing so, and in the process hit the open car door against her head, inflicting an open wound on the side of her head, he said.After he had stopped the car, Shiimi got out, taking a knife that had been left in the vehicle’s glovebox with her, and tried to run away from him, he said.He first followed her with the car, and once he had caught up with her, got out of the vehicle, chased after her and tripped her up, Amunyela said.Shiimi fell to the ground, and then she stabbed him in his left leg, he said.”She was trying to rise up and then I removed the knife out of my leg and started to stab her,” Amunyela claimed.He said he could remember stabbing her in the neck with his first blow and in the stomach with a second blow.In all, he stabbed her five or six times, he said.A medical doctor who performed a post-mortem examination on Shiimi however counted 23 stab wounds on her body.”Was it necessary at that stage to stab her?” State advocate Dominic Lisulo asked Amunyela in cross-examination during his testimony.”No,” Amunyela answered.When Lisulo asked Amunyela why he then stabbed Shiimi, he replied: “I stabbed her because I was angry and I didn’t know what I was doing.”Earlier under cross-examination he had also stated, when asked why he had stabbed Shiimi: “I became confused, because she stabbed me first.”Under cross-examination later, he said: “I stabbed her because she’s the one who stabbed me first.”He also added: “I was angry and I was confused.”After the stabbing, he saw that Shiimi was dying, and he then got back into his car and drove away, Amunyela further testified.He said his plan was to go to the Police at Ondangwa to report the incident and hand himself over, and this was what he did that evening.His intention was not to kill Shiimi, he claimed.Amunyela denied that he had told two State witnesses – including his elder sister – that he had stabbed Shiimi because she had bankrupted him and she did not want him any longer.”It destroyed my life,” Amunyela said when his defence counsel, Lucia Hamutenya, asked him how the incident had affected him.Judge Muller is set to hear arguments from Hamutenya and Lisulo today on the judgement that has to be delivered in the trial.