Murder suspect was ‘in a trance’

“MOST of the time I was in a trance. I was not myself.”

This was what murder suspect Gert Hermanus (‘Hansie’) Losper told Judge Collins Parker in the High Court in Windhoek this week in connection with his state of mind on the evening of December 8 2004, when he allegedly murdered his wife, Elizabeth Maria (‘Bessie’) Snyders (41), by shooting her four times in her brother’s house at Karibib. Losper (56) pleaded not guilty to charges of murder and assault by threat when his trial started before Judge Parker on Monday last week.In a plea explanation handed to the court by his defence counsel, Duard Kesslau, Losper stated that his defence to the charges was one of “sane automatism” or “non-pathological criminal incapacity” – in essence, that he could not be held accountable for his alleged actions because he was temporarily in a mental state in which he could not control himself.Losper testified in his own defence on Monday and Tuesday this week.In testimony during which he turned tearful at times, Losper told the Judge that he arrived at the house where his wife was staying during a visit to Karibib on the evening of December 8 2004.He had hitch-hiked from Cape Town to visit his wife, he said.He however was shocked when Snyders announced to him that she wanted a divorce, Losper indicated.He just knew that he got emotional and started crying – and the next thing he was aware of, was his wife’s one daughter holding onto his arm, saying to him, “Daddy, Daddy, stop,” Losper said.He could remember seeing his wife lying on the ground, he said.”I was shocked.I saw blood there and then I ran to her,” he said.He checked whether he could feel a pulse on Snyders, but there was none, he said.He then walked with his wife’s daughter to a public phone, where he tried to phone his brother and ended up speaking to his niece, Losper testified.He said he was “very emotional” at that point, and he told his niece that his wife was dead and that he was going to return home to shoot himself.When he got back to the house and opened the door, he saw his wife lying inside, covered with blood, Losper said.”I went to lie on top of her and was also crying,” he said.”I wanted to shoot myself.”With his hands full of blood, he first went out of the house and tried to clean some of the blood off himself, he said.Then he went back inside, lay down on his wife’s body and shot himself, Losper told the Judge.As he pulled the trigger, though, his elbow slipped.The next thing he knew, he woke up in a hospital.According to five prosecution witnesses who testified before Judge Parker last week, a letter was found on a table in the lounge of the house after the shooting.The letter that is claimed to have been found on the table is dated December 6 2004 and was addressed to the family of Losper’s wife.In the letter, Losper accused the family of having been set against his marriage to his wife and of having pressured her to divorce him.On the first page of the three-page letter, Losper wrote: “(Y)ou begrudge her to me, so mourn for her for the rest of your life”.On the second page, he wrote: “Remember, I am and was very much in love with Bessie.I still said I would not live without her, nor she without me.”I know, I sinned, but I could not otherwise.Don’t you now regret, it’s too late now to do anything.”In his testimony, however, Losper claimed that he wrote this letter only after he had woken up in hospital.The date, he said, he got from another patient in the hospital.The letter in fact showed that the shooting was planned from at least December 6 2004, before Losper had set off from Cape Town on the journey that ended at Karibib, State advocate Belinda Wantenaar told Losper when she cross-examined him on Tuesday.”I don’t agree with that,” Losper replied.Judge Parker also questioned Losper, asking him if he could recall shooting Snyders another three times after he had returned to the house following the initial shooting – something that is indicated by evidence placed before the court by the prosecution.If he shot her, he shot her, but he must have been in a trance at that stage, because he could not remember that, Losper replied.”Most of the time I was in a trance,” he said.”I cannot remember shooting her again,” he added when Wantenaar continued to question him on the issue of his allegedly patchy recollection of the actual shooting that evening.He knows he was in “a trance”, but cannot remember shooting Snyders, Losper repeated, before acknowledging: “Yes, I shot her.”He could not recall that, though, he said, before adding: “I accept I shot her.”Said Losper: “I was not myself.”The trial is scheduled to continue on Wednesday next week.Losper remains free on bail.Losper (56) pleaded not guilty to charges of murder and assault by threat when his trial started before Judge Parker on Monday last week.In a plea explanation handed to the court by his defence counsel, Duard Kesslau, Losper stated that his defence to the charges was one of “sane automatism” or “non-pathological criminal incapacity” – in essence, that he could not be held accountable for his alleged actions because he was temporarily in a mental state in which he could not control himself.Losper testified in his own defence on Monday and Tuesday this week.In testimony during which he turned tearful at times, Losper told the Judge that he arrived at the house where his wife was staying during a visit to Karibib on the evening of December 8 2004.He had hitch-hiked from Cape Town to visit his wife, he said.He however was shocked when Snyders announced to him that she wanted a divorce, Losper indicated.He just knew that he got emotional and started crying – and the next thing he was aware of, was his wife’s one daughter holding onto his arm, saying to him, “Daddy, Daddy, stop,” Losper said.He could remember seeing his wife lying on the ground, he said.”I was shocked.I saw blood there and then I ran to her,” he said.He checked whether he could feel a pulse on Snyders, but there was none, he said.He then walked with his wife’s daughter to a public phone, where he tried to phone his brother and ended up speaking to his niece, Losper testified.He said he was “very emotional” at that point, and he told his niece that his wife was dead and that he was going to return home to shoot himself.When he got back to the house and opened the door, he saw his wife lying inside, covered with blood, Losper said.”I went to lie on top of her and was also crying,” he said.”I wanted to shoot myself.”With his hands full of blood, he first went out of the house and tried to clean some of the blood off himself, he said.Then he went back inside, lay down on his wife’s body and shot himself, Losper told the Judge.As he pulled the trigger, though, his elbow slipped.The next thing he knew, he woke up in a hospital.According to five prosecution witnesses who testified before Judge Parker last week, a letter was found on a table in the lounge of the house after the shooting.The letter that is claimed to have been found on the table is dated December 6 2004 and was addressed to the family of Losper’s wife.In the letter, Losper accused the family of having been set against his marriage to his wife and of having pressured her to divorce him.On the first page of the three-page letter, Losper wrote: “(Y)ou begrudge her to me, so mourn for her for the rest of your life”.On the second page, he wrote: “Remember, I am and was very much in love with Bessie.I still said I would not live without her, nor she without me.”I know, I sinned, but I could not otherwise.Don’t you now regret, it’s too late now to do anything.”In his testimony, however, Losper claimed that he wrote this letter only after he had woken up in hospital.The date, he said, he got from another patient in the hospital.The letter in fact showed that the shooting was planned from at least December 6 2004, before Losper had set off from Cape Town on the journey that ended at Karibib, State advocate Belinda Wantenaar told Losper when she cross-examined him on Tuesday.”I don’t agree with that,” Losper replied.Judge Parker also questioned Losper, asking him
if he could recall shooting Snyders another three times after he had returned to the house following the initial shooting – something that is indicated by evidence placed before the court by the prosecution.If he shot her, he shot her, but he must have been in a trance at that stage, because he could not remember that, Losper replied.”Most of the time I was in a trance,” he said.”I cannot remember shooting her again,” he added when Wantenaar continued to question him on the issue of his allegedly patchy recollection of the actual shooting that evening.He knows he was in “a trance”, but cannot remember shooting Snyders, Losper repeated, before acknowledging: “Yes, I shot her.”He could not recall that, though, he said, before adding: “I accept I shot her.”Said Losper: “I was not myself.”The trial is scheduled to continue on Wednesday next week.Losper remains free on bail.