An Omaheke region resident who admitted that he strangled and raped a young woman at a farm in the Gobabis district was sentenced to an effective prison term of 45 years on Friday.
During the sentencing of Gabriel Gasa (25) in the High Court at Windhoek Correctional Facility, acting judge Marilize du Plessis said it was aggravating that Gasa did not show signs of remorse when he testified in mitigation of sentence, after pleading guilty to charges of murder and rape.
“He nonchalantly stated that he did not have permission from the deceased to have sexual intercourse with her, but that he would have told her that he had intercourse with her as soon as she woke up, except she never did,” Du Plessis recounted part of Gasa’s testimony.
She continued: “It is abundantly clear that the court can infer no remorse based on both [Gasa’s] demeanour and his callous comment during his testimony.”
Gasa pleaded guilty to the two charges on 12 December last year.
He admitted that he murdered an 18-year-old woman, Maria Stoffie, by strangling her and that he raped her at a farm in the Gobabis district during the evening of 31 August 2022.
Gasa, who is a father of two children, was employed at the farm where the crimes were committed.
In a plea statement given to the court, Gasa said he and other people, including Stoffie, had been drinking wine before the incident in which Stoffie lost her life.
He was not intoxicated to the extent that he did not know what was going on around him, Gasa said.
He related that Stoffie called him aside, told him she liked him and said she wanted to have intercourse with him.
“I told her no, that she was a relative to my girlfriend, but she kept insisting,” he said. “She got angry and started fighting with me. This angered me and I started strangling [Stoffie].”
Gasa added that he could not control his anger and strangled Stoffie until she was not breathing anymore.
Having strangled her, he then raped Stoffie, Gasa admitted.
The court took into account that the community is reeling from almost daily reports of gender-based violence, Du Plessis said during the sentencing.
“There is little left to say by this court that has not been, repeatedly, said by other courts regarding the continued terror against women,” she remarked.
“All that this court can do is to appease, at least to an extent, the continued outcry of the community by imposing appropriately lengthy terms of imprisonment against the perpetrators of gender-based violence.”
Stoffie was not only raped, but also brutally murdered, and the crimes committed by Gasa were “particularly heinous”, Du Plessis said.
The interests of the community demand that the court sends a clear message to would-be offenders that actions of the kind perpetrated by Gasa will be visited with the full force of the law, she also said.
Du Plessis sentenced Gasa to 30 years’ imprisonment on the murder charge, and a prison term of 15 years on the count of rape. No part of the sentences was ordered to be served concurrently.
Gasa, who has been held in custody since the start of September 2022, was represented by defence lawyer Melissa Windisch, instructed by the Directorate of Legal Aid.
Deputy prosecutor general Antonia Verhoef represented the state.
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