A Windhoek resident who fatally stabbed his domestic partner with scissors six years ago has now been found guilty of murder.
Judge Claudia Claasen convicted Rodney Afrikaner (44) on a charge of murder, committed without a direct intention to kill, read with the provisions of the Combating of Domestic Violence Act, in a judgement delivered in the Windhoek High Court on Friday.
Claasen found that Afrikaner was aware he could kill his romantic partner, Petricia Hochobes (39), by stabbing her three times in her right thigh with a pair of scissors.
The stabbing took place at the house of Afrikaner and Hochobes at the Hakahana area of Windhoek during the evening of 9 February 2019. The injury to Hochobes’ thigh was fatal, resulting in her death due to blood loss.
Afrikaner denied guilt during his trial, which began last August.
When he testified in his own defence in October, Afrikaner claimed the fatal injury happened by accident when he and Hochobes were in a scuffle to gain control of a pair of scissors.
Afrikaner testified that he at first only scratched Hochobes on her knee with the scissors, then stabbed her in the calf, and that she was accidentally stabbed in the thigh thereafter.
He also testified that he had no intention to kill Hochobes.
Claasen noted in her judgement that an eyewitness told the court Afrikaner had stabbed Hochobes after a quarrel between them.
The quarrel happened after Afrikaner had slapped his and Hochobes’ daughter when she could not recite the days of the week correctly to him.
The eyewitness also testified that Afrikaner had flung a plate of food at Hochobes before the stabbing took place.
The witness said Hochobes was sitting on a bed while breastfeeding her and Afrikaner’s baby when he stabbed her the first time.
Claasen commented on Afrikaner’s version of events: “It was difficult to miss the ever-evolving defence, with little congruence between the defences eluded to in cross-examination and the defence postulated under oath.”
She concluded: “At the end of the day, the versions offered by the accused [Afrikaner] have been discredited in all their shapes and forms through effective cross-examination by counsel for the state and the court can place no reliance on that.”
Claasen also said Afrikaner “was the aggressor from the beginning”.
Considering the nature of the scissors with which Hochobes was stabbed, “it leaves no question that the accused should have foreseen that his actions can cause the death of his partner and reconciled himself to that”, Claasen stated.
Afrikaner, who has elected to stand trial without legal representation, has to appear in court again on 20 March for a presentence hearing.
He is being held in custody.
State advocate Tangeni Iitula is prosecuting.
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