Strangler sent to jail for 38 years

A STINGING rebuke from Judge President Petrus Damaseb has sent a man convicted of murdering his employer’s wife off to a 38-year term of imprisonment.

Judge President Damaseb sentenced 30-year-old Mad­himbilo Tjatendela in the High Court at Oshakati on Thursday. The Judge President imposed a 38-year jail term on Tjatendela, whom he had convicted of murdering his employer’s wife, Eunike Sheuyeleka Tjitana (47), by strangling her at the village of Oishanaputa in the Outapi district on October 9 last year.Tjitana’s three-year-old son, Erastus Shikongo, was an eyewitness to the murder.He had been set to testify for the prosecution, but it turned out that he was too young to testify.The Namibian got access to the record of the judgement and sentence in the trial yesterday.”I think you are a scoundrel of the worst kind imaginable,” Judge President Damaseb told Tjatendela at the start of his sentencing.”You intentionally killed a woman carrying a three-year-old baby on her back,” he said.”She probably felt safe in your company, and you left a helpless and innocent child for dead in the bush, late at night,” the Judge President recounted.”You represent a serious threat to society, Mr Tjatendela,” he added.Tjatendela faced a charge of murder, a second count of rape, in which it was alleged that he had raped Tjitana, and a third count of attempted murder, in which it was alleged that he had tried to strangle the three-year-old Shikongo as well.At the start of his trial, Tjatendela told the court that he wanted to plead guilty to the murder charge only.Having heard his explanation, however, the court noted a plea of not guilty on all three counts.The explanation that Tjatendela gave to the court bore strong echoes of the Biblical story of the sexual advances and eventual threats that the wife of the pharaonic official Potiphar made against the Israelite Joseph.In his plea explanation, Tjatendela admitted he strangled Tjitana.He said he did this because she forced him to have sexual intercourse with her, although he did not want to do that because he was working for her husband at the time.The court also received evidence of a statement that Tjatendela made to the Police after his arrest.In it, he stated that he and Tjitana were on their way home from a cuca shop on the evening of October 9 last year when she allegedly suggested to him that they should have sexual intercourse.When he baulked at the offer, as she was the wife of his employer, she threatened that she would accuse him of rape, he claimed to the Police.”I got angry and I beat her and strangled her neck with my hand,” he also stated to the Police.Tjatendela further said that he then had sexual intercourse with her, and then again strangled her.After that, he realised that she was dead, and he fled the scene.Children on their way to school found Tjitana’s son wandering around the bush the next morning, the court heard.The boy told them that his mother was somewhere in the bush, sleeping, and that she did not wake up when he tried to awaken her.The little boy had clearly visible wounds on his neck.When he testified in his own defence during the trial, Tjatendela not only denied evidence of the statement he was said to have made to the Police, but also claimed he had never told the Judge President when he pleaded that he had strangled Tjitana.In his judgement, Judge President Damaseb termed that “a rather bizarre twist”.”He even strenuously denied that he ever stated before me that he killed the deceased, which is quite incredible,” the Judge President commented.This U-turn in the witness stand turned out to boomerang badly on Tjatendela.It prompted the Judge President to tell him during the sentencing: “You are also prepared to take the risk of playing an elaborate hoax on this court.(…) Your conduct shows utter contempt for this court and its dignity, and you have not shown any remorse for your actions.Instead you decided to mislead the court.”No medical evidence of forced sexual intercourse was found during Tjitana’s autopsy.Despite Tjatendela’s statement to the Police that he had intercourse with her, the court was not satisfied that the prosecution had proved that she had been raped, the Judge President said.In the absence of direct evidence linking Tjatendela to the injuries found on the child’s neck, the court also acquitted Tjatendela on the attempted murder charge.Sandra Miller prosecuted.Defence lawyer Frieda Kishi represented Tjatendela, who has been in Police custody since his arrest on the day after the incident.The Judge President imposed a 38-year jail term on Tjatendela, whom he had convicted of murdering his employer’s wife, Eunike Sheuyeleka Tjitana (47), by strangling her at the village of Oishanaputa in the Outapi district on October 9 last year.Tjitana’s three-year-old son, Erastus Shikongo, was an eyewitness to the murder.He had been set to testify for the prosecution, but it turned out that he was too young to testify.The Namibian got access to the record of the judgement and sentence in the trial yesterday.”I think you are a scoundrel of the worst kind imaginable,” Judge President Damaseb told Tjatendela at the start of his sentencing.”You intentionally killed a woman carrying a three-year-old baby on her back,” he said. “She probably felt safe in your company, and you left a helpless and innocent child for dead in the bush, late at night,” the Judge President recounted.”You represent a serious threat to society, Mr Tjatendela,” he added.Tjatendela faced a charge of murder, a second count of rape, in which it was alleged that he had raped Tjitana, and a third count of attempted murder, in which it was alleged that he had tried to strangle the three-year-old Shikongo as well.At the start of his trial, Tjatendela told the court that he wanted to plead guilty to the murder charge only.Having heard his explanation, however, the court noted a plea of not guilty on all three counts.The explanation that Tjatendela gave to the court bore strong echoes of the Biblical story of the sexual advances and eventual threats that the wife of the pharaonic official Potiphar made against the Israelite Joseph.In his plea explanation, Tjatendela admitted he strangled Tjitana.He said he did this because she forced him to have sexual intercourse with her, although he did not want to do that because he was working for her husband at the time.The court also received evidence of a statement that Tjatendela made to the Police after his arrest.In it, he stated that he and Tjitana were on their way home from a cuca shop on the evening of October 9 last year when she allegedly suggested to him that they should have sexual intercourse.When he baulked at the offer, as she was the wife of his employer, she threatened that she would accuse him of rape, he claimed to the Police.”I got angry and I beat her and strangled her neck with my hand,” he also stated to the Police.Tjatendela further said that he then had sexual intercourse with her, and then again strangled her.After that, he realised that she was dead, and he fled the scene.Children on their way to school found Tjitana’s son wandering around the bush the next morning, the court heard.The boy told them that his mother was somewhere in the bush, sleeping, and that she did not wake up when he tried to awaken her.The little boy had clearly visible wounds on his neck.When he testified in his own defence during the trial, Tjatendela not only denied evidence of the statement he was said to have made to the Police, but also claimed he had never told the Judge President when he pleaded that he had strangled Tjitana.In his judgement, Judge President Damaseb termed that “a rather bizarre twist”.”He even strenuously denied that he ever stated before me that he killed the deceased, which is quite incredible,” the Judge President commented.This U-turn in the witness stand turned out to boomerang badly on Tjatendela.It prompted the Judge President to tell him during the sentencing: “You are also prepared to take the risk of playing an elaborate hoax on this court.(…) Your conduct shows utter contempt for this court and its dignity, and you have not shown any remorse for your actions.Instead you decided to mislead the court.”No medical evidence of forced sexual intercourse was found during Tjitana’s autopsy.Despite Tjatendela’s statement to the Police that he had intercourse with her, the court was not satisfied that the prosecution had proved that she had been raped, the Judge President said.In the absence of direct evidence linking Tjatendela to the injuries found on the child’s neck, the court also acquitted Tjatendela on the attempted murder charge.Sandra Miller prosecuted.Defence lawyer Frieda Kishi represented Tjatendela, who has been in Police custody since his arrest on the day after the incident.