Young suspect admits killing pregnant girlfriend; pleads temporary insanity

“I DO not deny that I, when I came to my senses, had an axe handle in my hands.

The axe handle was bloodstained.” With this statement, together with others in which he admitted that he had taken the life of his 17-year-old, pregnant girlfriend, Ipula Akwenye, in Windhoek on January 29 2003, 21-year-old murder suspect Lungile Mawisa’s trial started in the High Court in Windhoek yesterday.Mawisa’s trial has been a long time coming.His 18th birthday still lay a little more than two weeks in the future at the time that he was arrested on January 31 2003 as a suspect in the murder case over Akwenye’s death.Both Mawisa and Akwenye were pupils at Windhoek’s Delta Secondary School at the time.Since his arrest, Mawisa has twice applied, without success, to be granted bail, has seen his case being postponed more than a dozen times for further investigations to be done, and has been referred for a period of psychiatric observation to determine of he was fit to stand trial and was sane at the time of his alleged crime.By yesterday, with everything finally in place for the trial to begin, Mawisa, claiming temporary insanity or “sane automatism” at the time of Akwenye’s death, pleaded not guilty to a charge of murder.In the plea that Mawisa’s defence counsel, Jan Wessels, submitted to Judge Kato van Niekerk, Mawisa admitted that he was responsible for killing Akwenye.However, based on a claim that he was temporarily insane at the time, or suffered from an episode of “sane automatism”, Mawisa denied that he was guilty of murder.”I do not deny that I assaulted and in fact caused the death of the deceased, but such actions are not in my nature as I have never displayed any violent behaviour of any kind in the past and I cannot imagine why I assaulted the deceased; although I can recall that I was provoked by her over a long period of time and especially on the night of the incident when she said very abusive things to me and also pushed me,” Mawisa states in the written plea statement, signed by him, that was submitted to the court at the start of the trial.Akwenye was allegedly bludgeoned to death with a wooden pickaxe handle and three heavy stones.Her body was left lying in a footpath through a dry river bed next to Bach Street in Windhoek West, which was where passing school children found her early the next morning.Regardless of the claimed provocation from Akwenye, “I cannot think of any reason why I have acted in the manner that I am supposed to have acted when I injured the deceased,” Mawisa also stated in the plea explanation.”At no stage during the course of the incident and/or during the course of the alleged assault/murder did I ever have the intention/or formed the intention to assault, harm or murder the deceased,” he added.Mawisa admitted that Akwenye died from multiple head injuries.He also admitted that these injuries were inflicted by himself at about half past two on the morning of January 29 2003.”Although there is very little that I can recall of the actual incident during which I assaulted the deceased, I do not deny that I, when I came to my senses, had an axe handle in my hands,” he stated in his written plea.”The axe handle was bloodstained.I would therefore not deny that I hit the deceased with this axe handle repeatedly in her face, causing the fatal head injuries.”His plea continued: “I also recall seeing two or three stones/rocks next to and near the head of the deceased person where she was lying on the ground.”Although I cannot recall hitting her and/or throwing her with a rock or rocks, I cannot deny that that might have been a possibility as there was blood on the rocks/stones.”He had been drinking brandy before the incident, Mawisa said.The alleged murder weapons – a wooden pickaxe handle that Judge van Niekerk was told weighs just under a kilogram, and three blood-smeared rocks, weighing 8,9 kg, 5 kg and 3,1 kg respectively – were handed to the court as exhibits in the trial shortly after Mawisa had given his plea to the court.State advocate Sandra Miller also provided the court with statements that Mawisa made to the Police after his arrest.The defence did not object to these statements becoming exhibits in the trial.One of the statements is a confession that Mawisa made before Police Inspector Peter Oelofse on February 2 2003.”I would like to confess that it was me who murdered her,” Mawisa stated in the early stages of the confession.When he made that statement, it appears, he could still remember at least some details about the incident that he is now, according to his plea explanation, unable to recall.Like in his plea, he related that he had gone by taxi to fetch Akwenye at her house in the early hours of January 29 2003.”On arrival at my house I took a pick handle for the defence of both of us, me and the deceased,” he explained the presence of the pickaxe handle at the scene where Akwenye was later killed.”This was roughly half past two, in the morning,” Mawisa stated according to the confession.”From my house we walked into an area where we usually talked, nearby the power station in Bach Street.”We spoke and I was drinking when an argument broke out between us.”I hit her with the pick handle and threw her with rocks, which lead to her death,” he stated further, ending the confession on that note.Miller also provided that court with the report of the State psychiatrist who examined Mawisa and came to a finding that he had been sane at the time of the killing and was mentally fit to stand trial.The psychiatrist is expected to be the next witness to testify for the prosecution when the trial continues for a second day today.With this statement, together with others in which he admitted that he had taken the life of his 17-year-old, pregnant girlfriend, Ipula Akwenye, in Windhoek on January 29 2003, 21-year-old murder suspect Lungile Mawisa’s trial started in the High Court in Windhoek yesterday.Mawisa’s trial has been a long time coming.His 18th birthday still lay a little more than two weeks in the future at the time that he was arrested on January 31 2003 as a suspect in the murder case over Akwenye’s death.Both Mawisa and Akwenye were pupils at Windhoek’s Delta Secondary School at the time.Since his arrest, Mawisa has twice applied, without success, to be granted bail, has seen his case being postponed more than a dozen times for further investigations to be done, and has been referred for a period of psychiatric observation to determine of he was fit to stand trial and was sane at the time of his alleged crime.By yesterday, with everything finally in place for the trial to begin, Mawisa, claiming temporary insanity or “sane automatism” at the time of Akwenye’s death, pleaded not guilty to a charge of murder.In the plea that Mawisa’s defence counsel, Jan Wessels, submitted to Judge Kato van Niekerk, Mawisa admitted that he was responsible for killing Akwenye.However, based on a claim that he was temporarily insane at the time, or suffered from an episode of “sane automatism”, Mawisa denied that he was guilty of murder.”I do not deny that I assaulted and in fact caused the death of the deceased, but such actions are not in my nature as I have never displayed any violent behaviour of any kind in the past and I cannot imagine why I assaulted the deceased; although I can recall that I was provoked by her over a long period of time and especially on the night of the incident when she said very abusive things to me and also pushed me,” Mawisa states in the written plea statement, signed by him, that was submitted to the court at the start of the trial.Akwenye was allegedly bludgeoned to death with a wooden pickaxe handle and three heavy stones.Her body was left lying in a footpath through a dry river bed next to Bach Street in Windhoek West, which was where passing school children found her early the next morning.Regardless of the claimed provocation from Akwenye, “I cannot think of any reason why I have acted in the manner that I am supposed to have acted when I injured the deceased,” Mawisa also stated in the plea explanation.”At no stage during the course of the incident and/or during the course of the alleged assault/murder did I ever have the intention/or formed the intention to assault, harm or murder the deceased,” he added.Mawisa admitted that Akwenye died from multiple head injuries.He also admitted that these injuries were inflicted by himself at about half past two on the morning of January 29 2003.”Although there is very little that I can recall of the actual incident during which I assaulted the deceased, I do not deny that I, when I came to my senses, had an axe handle in my hands,” he stated in his written plea.”The axe handle was bloodstained.I would therefore not deny that I hit the deceased with this axe handle repeatedly in her face, causing the fatal head injuries.”His plea continued: “I also recall seeing two or three stones/rocks next to and near the head of the deceased person where she was lying on the ground.”Although I cannot recall hitting her and/or throwing her with a rock or rocks, I cannot deny that that might have been a possibility as there was blood on the rocks/stones.”He had been drinking brandy before the incident, Mawisa said.The alleged murder weapons – a wooden pickaxe handle that Judge van Niekerk was told weighs just under a kilogram, and three blood-smeared rocks, weighing 8,9 kg, 5 kg and 3,1 kg respectively – were handed to the court as exhibits in the trial shortly after Mawisa had given his plea to the court.State advocate Sandra Miller also provided the court with statements that Mawisa made to the Police after his arrest.The defence did not object to these statements becoming exhibits in the trial.One of the statements is a confession that Mawisa made before Police Inspector Peter Oelofse on February 2 2003.”I would like to confess that it was me who murdered her,” Mawisa stated in the early stages of the confession.When he made that statement, it appears, he could still remember at least some details about the incident that he is now, according to his plea explanation, unable to recall.Like in his plea, he related that he had gone by taxi to fetch Akwenye at her house in the early hours of January 29 2003.”On arrival at my house I took a pick handle for the defence of both of us, me and the deceased,” he explained the presence of the pickaxe handle at the scene where Akwenye was later killed.”This was roughly half past two, in the morning,” Mawisa stated according to the confession.”From my house we walked into an area where we usually talked, nearby the power station in Bach Street.”We spoke and I was drinking when an argument broke out between us.”I hit her with the pick handle and threw her with rocks, which lead to her death,” he stated further, ending the confession on that note.Miller also provided that court with the report of the State psychiatrist who examined Mawisa and came to a finding that he had been sane at the time of the killing and was mentally fit to stand trial.The psychiatrist is expected to be the next witness to testify for the prosecution when the trial continues for a second day today.