Woman denies killing couple in arson attack

A woman accused of murdering her ex-boyfriend and his romantic partner in an arson attack near the end of 2022 denied guilt on three charges in the Windhoek High Court yesterday.

Mecthilde Karomo (32) pleaded not guilty to two counts of murder and a charge of arson, alternatively malicious damage to property, at the start of her trial before judge Claudia Claasen.

Defence lawyer Mbanga Siyomunji informed the judge that Karomo would not offer any plea explanation to the court and that the state would be required to prove each of its allegations against her.

The state is alleging that Karomo murdered two people by setting fire to a house in the Okahandja Park area of Windhoek on 26 December 2022.

According to the state, Karomo was involved in a romantic relationship with a man, Leonard Kadubuli (36), before he started a relationship with a 31-year-old woman, Annastasia Matende, shortly before his death.

It is alleged that during the late hours of 25 December 2022, Karomo went to Kadubuli’s shack house in the Okahandja Park area, where she demanded that he unlock the door while Matende was asleep inside.

Kadubuli refused to unlock the door, and a scuffle ensued between him and Karomo, the state is alleging.

It is also alleged that Karomo threatened to burn down Kadubuli’s house and to kill both him and Matende.

During the early morning hours of the next day, Karomo allegedly returned to Kadubuli’s house and set it alight while Kadubuli and Matende were asleep inside.

The shack burned to the ground. Kadubuli and Matende both died in the fire.

Karomo was arrested on the same day.

The prosecution’s first witness in the trial, Elizabeth Haingura, told the court yesterday that she and Matende are cousins and that she and Kadubuli hailed from the same village in the Kavango West region. She also lived close to Kadubuli at Okahandja Park, she said.

Haingura said she witnessed an altercation between Karomo and Kadubuli at his house late during the night of 25 December 2022, when Karomo demanded that he should open the door of his house and he refused to do so.

According to Haingura, Karomo said she had seen a woman who was in Kadubuli’s house.

Haingura said she went to fetch her bother at a nearby bar, and when she returned to Kadubuli’s house with him they found Karomo and Kadubuli fighting.

They separated Karomo and Kadubuli, Haingura said.

Before leaving the scene, Karomo made a threatening remark, saying if Kadubuli and Matende were going to sleep in his house she was going to burn the house down, Haingura told the judge.

She continued that at about 05h00 the next morning her brother woke her up and told her Kadubuli’s house was burning.

After the fire brigade had extinguished the blaze, she was told that two people had died in the fire, Haingura said.

The trial is continuing.

Karomo was held in custody until the end of May last year, when she was granted bail in an amount of N$3 000.

Deputy prosecutor general Dominic Lisulo is representing the state.