Young suspect convicted of girlfriend Ipula Akwenye’s murder

YOUTHFUL murder suspect Lungile Mawisa was yesterday found guilty of murder, a charge he had faced since early 2003.

Mawisa (21) was still about two weeks short of his 18th birthday at the time of his arrest on January 31 2003, two days after the body of 17-year-old Ipula Akwenye – like Mawisa a student at Windhoek’s Delta Secondary School – was found lying in a footpath in a patch of veld off Bach Street in Windhoek West. She had been killed by being beaten – and also stoned, it was suspected – to death.By yesterday, with Mawisa having passed his 21st birthday early this year, the charge that has shadowed him for more than three and a half years finally came to a head in the High Court in Windhoek.Judge Kato van Niekerk convicted him on a count of murder.She found he had committed the crime with a direct intent to kill.Mawisa’s claims that he had been temporarily insane when he, by his own admission, attacked Akwenye with a wooden pickaxe handle weighing close to a kilogram, were rejected by the Judge.She however gave him the benefit of the doubt when she found, contrary to what State Advocate Sandra Miller had tried to convince the Judge the court’s conclusion should be, that the evidence did not prove that Mawisa had carried out a planned, premeditated murder when he killed Akwenye.Akwenye was found to have been about four months pregnant at the time of her death.According to Mawisa, he accepted that he had fathered the unborn child.Her pregnancy, and the difficult position this placed them in because of their age and because they were still at school, was the major reason why they met at the scene where she was to die around 02h00 on the morning of January 29 2003, he told the court during the trial.It was not a meeting that went smoothly, the court heard.As it degenerated into an argument in which Akwenye accused Mawisa of selfishness, and he accused her of being an emotional parasite, she at one point pushed him and he fell to the ground, Mawisa claimed.He testified that he had a pickaxe handle with him for both his and Akwenye’s protection.As he got up after he had fallen, he was “really angry”, he told the court.He could remember nothing more, until he came to and found himself standing with the pickaxe handle in his hands, he testified.It had blood on it.In front of him, Akwenye lay on the ground, covered in blood.Mawisa claimed he could not remember anything about having attacked Akwenye, but added that he accepted that he had hit her with the pickaxe handle, since that was the only plausible explanation for the fatal head injuries that she sustained that night.In her judgement yesterday, Judge Van Niekerk rejected the argument that Mawisa had suffered from an episode of temporary insanity at the time.Contrary to the claims that he could not remember the actual incident, neither of the two psychiatrists that had seen Mawisa to compile reports on his mental state could tell the court that he had made such a claim about memory loss to them, she noted.A State psychiatrist, Dr Ndahambelela Mthoko, told the court that Mawisa had told her that he had hit Akwenye, but that he could not remember how many times.Another psychiatrist, Dr Reinhardt Sieberhagen, told the court that Mawisa had related to him in some detail that he hit Akwenye with the pickaxe handle, that he was screaming at her as he did this, and that he kept on hitting her until he got tired, the Judge noted further.She commented that she found a suggestion that both the psychiatrists might have omitted to note that Mawisa was reporting that he could not remember the actual incident as being “completely farfetched”.To her mind, there was no reasonable possibility that Mawisa had acted that night in a state in which he could not be held accountable for his deeds, she added.Defence counsel Jan Wessels called Mawisa to the witness box to testify in mitigation of sentence after the court had given its verdict.”I feel terrible about the crime that I committed,” Mawisa stated.He added: “I know that it has hurt a lot of people – my family, Ipula’s family.The way I see it now, this crime has destroyed my life.I just hope and pray that this court will show mercy on me.”Akwenye’s mother, Elina Akwenye, was also called to testify by Miller.Her daughter was a beautiful, popular girl, who was always laughing with everyone, she told the court.”Ipula was a loving girl,” she said.Her daughter was excited about her pregnancy, and had already chosen a name for her unborn son, Mrs Akwenye also related.He would have been called Brooklyn.She wanted to speak to the court not just as the murdered girl’s mother, but also as a woman and on behalf of the women of Namibia, Mrs Akwenye said.Women and children and being murdered and raped in Namibia, and they are no longer feeling safe, she said.She asked the court to take action on this.Judge Van Niekerk is set to hear arguments today on the sentence to be imposed on Mawisa.She had been killed by being beaten – and also stoned, it was suspected – to death.By yesterday, with Mawisa having passed his 21st birthday early this year, the charge that has shadowed him for more than three and a half years finally came to a head in the High Court in Windhoek.Judge Kato van Niekerk convicted him on a count of murder.She found he had committed the crime with a direct intent to kill.Mawisa’s claims that he had been temporarily insane when he, by his own admission, attacked Akwenye with a wooden pickaxe handle weighing close to a kilogram, were rejected by the Judge.She however gave him the benefit of the doubt when she found, contrary to what State Advocate Sandra Miller had tried to convince the Judge the court’s conclusion should be, that the evidence did not prove that Mawisa had carried out a planned, premeditated murder when he killed Akwenye.Akwenye was found to have been about four months pregnant at the time of her death.According to Mawisa, he accepted that he had fathered the unborn child.Her pregnancy, and the difficult position this placed them in because of their age and because they were still at school, was the major reason why they met at the scene where she was to die around 02h00 on the morning of January 29 2003, he told the court during the trial.It was not a meeting that went smoothly, the court heard.As it degenerated into an argument in which Akwenye accused Mawisa of selfishness, and he accused her of being an emotional parasite, she at one point pushed him and he fell to the ground, Mawisa claimed.He testified that he had a pickaxe handle with him for both his and Akwenye’s protection.As he got up after he had fallen, he was “really angry”, he told the court.He could remember nothing more, until he came to and found himself standing with the pickaxe handle in his hands, he testified.It had blood on it.In front of him, Akwenye lay on the ground, covered in blood.Mawisa claimed he could not remember anything about having attacked Akwenye, but added that he accepted that he had hit her with the pickaxe handle, since that was the only plausible explanation for the fatal head injuries that she sustained that night.In her judgement yesterday, Judge Van Niekerk rejected the argument that Mawisa had suffered from an episode of temporary insanity at the time.Contrary to the claims that he could not remember the actual incident, neither of the two psychiatrists that had seen Mawisa to compile reports on his mental state could tell the court that he had made such a claim about memory loss to them, she noted.A State psychiatrist, Dr Ndahambelela Mthoko, told the court that Mawisa had told her that he had hit Akwenye, but that he could not remember how many times.Another psychiatrist, Dr Reinhardt Sieberhagen, told the court that Mawisa had related to him in some detail that he hit Akwenye with the pickaxe handle, that he was screaming at her as he did this, and that he kept on hitting her until he got tired, the Judge noted further.She commented that she found a suggestion that both the psychiatrists might have omitted to note that Mawisa was reporting that he could not remember the actual incident as being “completely farfetched”.To her mind, there was no reasonable possibility that Mawisa had acted that night in a state in which he could not be held accountable for his deeds, she added.Defence counsel Jan Wessels called Mawisa to the witness box to testify in mitigation of sentence after the court had given its verdict.”I feel terrible about the crime that I committed,” Mawisa stated.He added: “I know that it has hurt a lot of people – my family, Ipula’s family.The way I see it now, this crime has destroyed my life.I just hope and pray that this court will show mercy on me.”Akwenye’s mother, Elina Akwenye, was also called to testify by Miller.Her daughter was a beautiful, popular girl, who was always laughing with everyone, she told the court.”Ipula was a loving girl,” she said.Her daughter was excited about her pregnancy, and had already chosen a name for her unborn son, Mrs Akwenye also related.He would have been called Brooklyn.She wanted to speak to the court not just as the murdered girl’s mother, but also as a woman and on behalf of the women of Namibia, Mrs Akwenye said.Women and children and being murdered and raped in Namibia, and they are no longer feeling safe, she said.She asked the court to take action on this.Judge Van Niekerk is set to hear arguments today on the sentence to be imposed on Mawisa.