Otavi farm killing appeal thrown out

AN attempt by a young former Otavi area farm resident to appeal against a 21-year jail term that he received for the killing of a well-known nursery owner from that area in early 2003 was thrown out of the High Court this week.

Severen Iita Alubetus (23) was 21 years old when he was convicted in the Otjiwarongo Regional Court on November 4 2004 on charges of murder and housebreaking with intent to steal and theft. Having convicted Alubetus, who had protested his innocence throughout the trial, Magistrate Christie Liebenberg sentenced him to 20 years’ imprisonment on the murder charge and a further one-year jail term on the second count.Alubetus was found guilty of murdering the 66-year-old Winnie Locher, who ran a well-known nursery on a plot close to Otavi, in a small farm shop that she also had at the plot on April 1 2003.Locher died after she was stabbed three times in the chest.Her husband found her body lying behind the counter in the shop shortly after 14h00 that day, after workers at their smallholding had phoned him to report that they could not find her and that the shop appeared to have been broken into.A radio and cassette player, cash of N$200, a shirt and a small bag – items worth N$590 in total – were stolen from the Lochers’ house and shop.Alubetus had been employed at the Locher plot some time before the incident, it was testified during his trial.After he had been found guilty of murdering his former employer, Alubetus eventually lodged an appeal with the High Court against his conviction.The notice of his appeal was however filed about two months late.Whereas he was supposed to file an appeal notice within 14 days after the conviction and sentencing, such a notice was received by the Regional Court only on January 18 last year, Judge Kato van Niekerk noted in the judgement in which she struck Alubetus’s appeal from the High Court’s roll on Tuesday.She made that order after she ruled that Alubetus had not given any explanation why he did not lodge an appeal against his conviction within the prescribed time limit.Alubetus initially only wrote a letter to the Regional Court Magistrate in which he indicated that he wanted to ask for a reduction of the 20-year jail term that he received on the murder charge.Only later, after it had been pointed out to him that he had to set out the grounds of his intended appeal, did he notify the Regional Court that he wanted to actually appeal against the conviction as well.In her judgement, Judge Van Niekerk did not deal with Alubetus’s grounds for attacking the conviction, but she made one very discouraging remark about that issue: “Suffice it to say that I consider the appeal against the conviction to be wholly without merit.”During Alubetus’s trial, Magistrate Liebenberg heard testimony from a worker at the plot who insisted she had seen Alubetus, whom she said she knew, running barefoot from the shop, with a radio in his hands, shortly before Mr Locher was called and his wife was found dead.Only one set of footprints was seen leading away from the scene, the Magistrate was told during the trial.The court also heard that a single fingerprint that was matched to one of Alubetus’s fingerprints was found on a box in the Lochers’ house.Alubetus however claimed never to have set foot on the Locher smallholding – a claim that the victim’s widower, Hermann Locher, who also claimed to have known Alubetus, insisted was a lie when he testified in the trial.About N$165 in cash was found with Alubetus – in a wallet and hidden in his socks – when he was arrested about two kilometres from the crime scene next to the main road between Otavi and Kombat later on the afternoon after the incident, the court was also told.When he was arrested, it was found that Alubetus had fresh wounds on the soles of his feet, as if he had walked or run over rough terrain barefoot.He claimed to have injured his feet playing soccer.After his arrest, Alubetus made a statement to the Police and also to a Magistrate at Grootfontein in which he claimed to have been present at the scene where Locher was later found killed.He however claimed to have remained outside the shop while a companion, named as one Frans Nekale, went inside with a knife, only to re-emerge later with some items in his hands, after which both ran off.Only one set of footprints was found at the scene, though, the Magistrate noted in his verdict.The Police claimed during the trial that they could not trace anyone in the Otavi area with the name that Alubetus had given them.They also claimed that Alubetus took investigators to his home on another plot close to the Lochers’, where he showed them where he had put a traditional dagger – suspected to have been the murder weapon – under his pillow, and that Alubetus further directed investigators to a spot where he had hidden the radio that was stolen from the Locher couple.Having convicted Alubetus, who had protested his innocence throughout the trial, Magistrate Christie Liebenberg sentenced him to 20 years’ imprisonment on the murder charge and a further one-year jail term on the second count.Alubetus was found guilty of murdering the 66-year-old Winnie Locher, who ran a well-known nursery on a plot close to Otavi, in a small farm shop that she also had at the plot on April 1 2003.Locher died after she was stabbed three times in the chest.Her husband found her body lying behind the counter in the shop shortly after 14h00 that day, after workers at their smallholding had phoned him to report that they could not find her and that the shop appeared to have been broken into.A radio and cassette player, cash of N$200, a shirt and a small bag – items worth N$590 in total – were stolen from the Lochers’ house and shop.Alubetus had been employed at the Locher plot some time before the incident, it was testified during his trial.After he had been found guilty of murdering his former employer, Alubetus eventually lodged an appeal with the High Court against his conviction.The notice of his appeal was however filed about two months late.Whereas he was supposed to file an appeal notice within 14 days after the conviction and sentencing, such a notice was received by the Regional Court only on January 18 last year, Judge Kato van Niekerk noted in the judgement in which she struck Alubetus’s appeal from the High Court’s roll on Tuesday.She made that order after she ruled that Alubetus had not given any explanation why he did not lodge an appeal against his conviction within the prescribed time limit.Alubetus initially only wrote a letter to the Regional Court Magistrate in which he indicated that he wanted to ask for a reduction of the 20-year jail term that he received on the murder charge.Only later, after it had been pointed out to him that he had to set out the grounds of his intended appeal, did he notify the Regional Court that he wanted to actually appeal against the conviction as well.In her judgement, Judge Van Niekerk did not deal with Alubetus’s grounds for attacking the conviction, but she made one very discouraging remark about that issue: “Suffice it to say that I consider the appeal against the conviction to be wholly without merit.”During Alubetus’s trial, Magistrate Liebenberg heard testimony from a worker at the plot who insisted she had seen Alubetus, whom she said she knew, running barefoot from the shop, with a radio in his hands, shortly before Mr Locher was called and his wife was found dead.Only one set of footprints was seen leading away from the scene, the Magistrate was told during the trial.The court also heard that a single fingerprint that was matched to one of Alubetus’s fingerprints was found on a box in the Lochers’ house.Alubetus however claimed never to have set foot on the Locher smallholding – a claim that the victim’s widower, Hermann Locher, who also claimed to have known Alubetus, insisted was a lie when he testified in the trial.About N$165 in cash was found with Alubetus – in a wallet and hidden in his socks – when he was arrested about two kilometres from the crime scene next to the main road between Otavi and Kombat later on the after
noon after the incident, the court was also told.When he was arrested, it was found that Alubetus had fresh wounds on the soles of his feet, as if he had walked or run over rough terrain barefoot.He claimed to have injured his feet playing soccer.After his arrest, Alubetus made a statement to the Police and also to a Magistrate at Grootfontein in which he claimed to have been present at the scene where Locher was later found killed.He however claimed to have remained outside the shop while a companion, named as one Frans Nekale, went inside with a knife, only to re-emerge later with some items in his hands, after which both ran off.Only one set of footprints was found at the scene, though, the Magistrate noted in his verdict.The Police claimed during the trial that they could not trace anyone in the Otavi area with the name that Alubetus had given them.They also claimed that Alubetus took investigators to his home on another plot close to the Lochers’, where he showed them where he had put a traditional dagger – suspected to have been the murder weapon – under his pillow, and that Alubetus further directed investigators to a spot where he had hidden the radio that was stolen from the Locher couple.