A Teacher who was accused of carrying out a fatal knife attack on his wife in April 2019 was found guilty on a charge of murder, read with the provisions of the Combating of Domestic Violence Act, in the Windhoek High Court on Friday.
With eyewitnesses’ testimony implicating murder accused Patric Gaingob (45), there is no doubt that Gaingob inflicted the injuries that led to the death of his wife, fellow teacher Merenta Gaingos (38), acting judge Herman January said in the judgement he delivered on Friday.
January rejected Gaingob’s claim that he had no recollection of the stabbing, which took place in his and Gaingos’ home in Windhoek during the night of 12 to 13 April 2019, and that he was acting in a state of automatism and amnesia during the stabbing.
January also found there was no evidence supporting Gaingob’s claim that his wife had died as a result of medical negligence when she underwent surgery at Katutura Intermediate Hospital in an attempt to save her life after the stabbing, and when she was transferred to Windhoek Central Hospital before she died.
Noting that 12 stab wounds were recorded on Gaingos’ body during a post-mortem examination, January said he had no doubt that Gaingob had a direct intent to murder her when he stabbed her.
Gaingob was also found guilty on a charge of assault with intent to do grievous bodily harm and a count of assault in connection with an assault on his wife during 2011.
Gaingob denied guilt on all of the charges when his trial commenced in April 2023.
During the trial, the court heard that Gaingob arrived at his and Gaingos’ house after a visit to a bar during the night of 12 April 2019 and loudly knocked at a window to be let inside the house.
After a door had been opened for him, Gaingos asked him why he had made a noise outside, after which she went to her bedroom.
Gaingob fetched a knife from the kitchen of the house and went to the bedroom where he started to stab Gaingos.
During the stabbing, Gaingob repeatedly yelled “I’m tired of this”, a teenage daughter of Gaingos recounted when she testified during the trial.
The attack ended when a tenant who was living in a room at the house disarmed Gaingob.
Gaingob left the house after the stabbing and went to the house of a friend, where he arrived with bloodstained clothing and reported that he had stabbed his wife and thought her condition was serious, the court also heard.
Gaingob was booked off from work due to depression at the time of the incident.
A psychiatrist who treated him testified that in his opinion Gaingob had acted in a state of automatism and amnesia, after years of emotional abuse to which he had been subjected by his wife caused him to snap and lose control of himself.
January said he seriously considered the psychiatrist’s evidence, but noted that the doctor had not been provided with the evidence of the witness to whom Gaingob reported that he had stabbed his wife.
Gaingob was not truthful with his claim that he did not know what happened at his and his wife’s house and that he had experienced a blackout, January found.
Gaingob, who is being represented by defence lawyer Jermaine Muchali, has to appear in court again on 29 June.
He has been held in custody since his arrest in April 2019.
State advocate Seredine Jacobs is representing the prosecution.
