Man gets 10 years over axe murder

JAN Blokstaan (28) has been jailed for 10 years for beating to death his girlfriend with a pickaxe.

He pleaded guilty to the murder charge. Blokstaan appeared calm when Regional Magistrate Hosea Noabeb meted out the 10-year prison sentence in the Keetmanshoop Regional Court on Friday.According to the charge sheet, Blokstaan found his girlfriend, Petronella Boois, embracing another man at her mother’s house in Keetmanshoop’s Tseiblaagte residential area on July 1, 2005.He hit her on the forehead with a pickaxe, killing her instantly.According to autopsy reports brought before the court, Boois also sustained injuries to other parts of her body.After his arrest, Blokstaan escaped from the Police cells and was on the run for two days before being rearrested.Magistrate Noabeb described the attack on Boois unprovoked and brutal, and said the court had no choice but to impose a stiff sentence despite the fact that Blokstaan had expressed remorse.”There is a huge outcry against woman and child violence, therefore a severe sentence for the offence you committed is needed to deter others,” Noabeb said.Henry Van Zyl of the legal firm Lentin, Bothma and Van den Heever represented Blokstaan.The Deputy Prosecutor General for the Hardap and Karas regions, Jackson Kuutondokwa, prosecuted.Blokstaan appeared calm when Regional Magistrate Hosea Noabeb meted out the 10-year prison sentence in the Keetmanshoop Regional Court on Friday.According to the charge sheet, Blokstaan found his girlfriend, Petronella Boois, embracing another man at her mother’s house in Keetmanshoop’s Tseiblaagte residential area on July 1, 2005.He hit her on the forehead with a pickaxe, killing her instantly.According to autopsy reports brought before the court, Boois also sustained injuries to other parts of her body.After his arrest, Blokstaan escaped from the Police cells and was on the run for two days before being rearrested.Magistrate Noabeb described the attack on Boois unprovoked and brutal, and said the court had no choice but to impose a stiff sentence despite the fact that Blokstaan had expressed remorse.”There is a huge outcry against woman and child violence, therefore a severe sentence for the offence you committed is needed to deter others,” Noabeb said.Henry Van Zyl of the legal firm Lentin, Bothma and Van den Heever represented Blokstaan.The Deputy Prosecutor General for the Hardap and Karas regions, Jackson Kuutondokwa, prosecuted.