Nurses’ home murder suspect found guilty

THE murder trial of David Shiimi Kaapanda, who killed his girlfriend in her flat at the Windhoek Central Hospital Nurses’ Home near the end of 2009, is due to enter its end stage in the High Court in Windhoek next month.

The remainder of Kaapanda’s trial was postponed to May 18 on Thursday last week, after Judge Alfred Siboleka had convicted Kaapanda of murder, committed without a direct intention to kill.Judge Siboleka found that Kaapanda (33) murdered his girlfriend, Hileni Namutenya Enkono (24), in her flat on November 1 2009 by hitting her on the head with a hammer and stabbing her in the neck. When he inflicted the injuries on her he was conscious of the fact that she might die, but he still attacked her regardless of that, the judge found.Kaapanda’s claim that he had acted in self-defence when he threw a hammer at Enkono and unintentionally struck her against the head, in order to ward off a threatened attack by her while she was armed with a knife, was rejected by Judge Siboleka as an afterthought and a lie.’I accept (Kaapanda’s) evidence where he testified that (Enkono) told him that he was not the father of her child and that he should leave her room because she did not want to be with him anymore,’ Judge Siboleka said in his judgement.’Looking at the whole evidence the accused got angry. He refused to leave as he indeed testified during cross-examination. He then decided to punish the deceased for her conduct.’As Kaapanda told a magistrate when he first pleaded to the murder charge with an appearance in the Windhoek Magistrate’s Court on November 2 2009, ‘my intention was not to kill her but only to hit her so that she can tell me who is the father of the child,’ Judge Siboleka said.Kaapanda, who was employed with a mining company at Swakopmund at the time of the incident, told the court that he and Enkono, who was a radiographer at Windhoek Central Hospital, had been involved in a relationship for six years before her death. They had a son, who was two years old when his mother was killed. It was Enkono’s claim that Kaapanda was not the father of her child that sparked the fatal incident, Kaapanda stated before his trial.Shortly after the incident, after his arrest, and with his first court appearance Kaapanda never mentioned that he had tried to defend himself against a threatened attack by a knife-wielding Enkono, the judge noted. The first time that his claim of self-defence surfaced was when he went on trial in the High Court, the judge said.’Private defence does not arise in this matter,’ he remarked.All that Enkono wanted was that Kaapanda should leave her flat, the judge said. ‘It is my considered view that (Enkono’s) request did not require the accused to defend himself,’ he said.He also noted that a letter which had been written by Kaapanda after the fatal incident was found on a table next to the bed where Enkono was found dead.Part of the letter read: ‘Hileni is the one who is wrong, even if I did it, by taking a life. I apologise, mother. I will be detained and you brought this upon me. I had been telling Hileni over and over but she would not listen.’Kaapanda also wrote: ‘I did not expect this to happen. Bad thoughts caught me. Sorry, mother, sorry.’The sentiments expressed by Kaapanda in the letter are not the language of a victim of violence, Judge Siboleka commented.He also noted that, after Enkono had been injured, Kaapanda did not summon medical help for her. Instead, he locked her in the flat and left the scene.Enkono bled to death after a major blood vessel in her neck was cut, the court heard.Kaapanda is being represented by defence lawyer Vetu Uanivi. State advocate Jack Eixab is prosecuting.