11 years for extradited murder suspect

A SINGLE, but fatal, stab with a knife in a Swakopmund nightclub more than eight years ago left a South African-born former resident of Namibia with a conviction for murder and an 11-year prison term yesterday.

At the age of 39, Dean Whatley has just started serving the jail term for a crime he committed when he was 30 years old. It was a crime that would not go away – even after Whatley skipped bail and moved to South Africa in an ultimately vain attempt to evade justice in Namibia.Yesterday, some seven and a half months after his extradition from South Africa to stand his long-pending trial in the High Court, Whatley finally heard the price he would have to pay for a drunken moment of retaliation in a Swakopmund nightspot, Club New Edition, on February 27 1997.Judge Sylvester Mainga told Whatley that he was being sentenced to 15 years, of which four years were suspended for five years on condition that Whatley is not again convicted of murder during that period.On Monday, Judge Mainga convicted Whatley of murder without direct intention to kill.Whatley was charged with killing the 25-year-old Paul Herman Eixab on February 27 1997.Eixab died in the club from a single stab wound to his neck.Whatley admitted that he stabbed Eixab, but claimed that he acted in self-defence when Eixab appeared to be on the point of attacking him with a bottle.Judge Mainga rejected this part of Whatley’s defence when he gave his verdict on Monday.The Judge however accepted another part of Whatley’s version of the fateful events in the club: that he had confronted Eixab after Whatley’s wife had reported to him that Eixab had touched her backside and made a suggestive remark.Judge Mainga found that there had in fact not been an imminent attack by Eixab on Whatley, and that Whatley’s reaction – when he used a knife to stab at Eixab, who he said was armed with a bottle – was not only unreasonable but also excessive under the circumstances.Whatley told the court on Monday that even after he had sought refuge from the Namibian justice system in South Africa, his knowledge of what he had done that evening at Swakopmund continued to haunt him.At one stage it reached breaking point, and he tried to commit suicide by shooting himself in the chest.”I still feel very terrible,” he said when asked by his defence counsel, Hennie Barnard, how he felt about Eixab’s death.”I’m very sorry about what happened.It was a terrible thing,” he added.Judge Mainga was not convinced that he showed genuine remorse.While saying that he accepted that Whatley had been haunted by the incident, the Judge added that he had not been convinced by Whatley’s profession of remorse.Whatley had tried for years to avoid standing trial, and when he told the court that he felt remorse over Eixab’s death, it was only done with a perfunctory statement to that effect, the Judge commented.Deputy Prosecutor General Job Kozonguizi represented the State in the latter stages of Whatley’s trial.It was a crime that would not go away – even after Whatley skipped bail and moved to South Africa in an ultimately vain attempt to evade justice in Namibia.Yesterday, some seven and a half months after his extradition from South Africa to stand his long-pending trial in the High Court, Whatley finally heard the price he would have to pay for a drunken moment of retaliation in a Swakopmund nightspot, Club New Edition, on February 27 1997.Judge Sylvester Mainga told Whatley that he was being sentenced to 15 years, of which four years were suspended for five years on condition that Whatley is not again convicted of murder during that period.On Monday, Judge Mainga convicted Whatley of murder without direct intention to kill.Whatley was charged with killing the 25-year-old Paul Herman Eixab on February 27 1997.Eixab died in the club from a single stab wound to his neck.Whatley admitted that he stabbed Eixab, but claimed that he acted in self-defence when Eixab appeared to be on the point of attacking him with a bottle.Judge Mainga rejected this part of Whatley’s defence when he gave his verdict on Monday.The Judge however accepted another part of Whatley’s version of the fateful events in the club: that he had confronted Eixab after Whatley’s wife had reported to him that Eixab had touched her backside and made a suggestive remark.Judge Mainga found that there had in fact not been an imminent attack by Eixab on Whatley, and that Whatley’s reaction – when he used a knife to stab at Eixab, who he said was armed with a bottle – was not only unreasonable but also excessive under the circumstances.Whatley told the court on Monday that even after he had sought refuge from the Namibian justice system in South Africa, his knowledge of what he had done that evening at Swakopmund continued to haunt him.At one stage it reached breaking point, and he tried to commit suicide by shooting himself in the chest.”I still feel very terrible,” he said when asked by his defence counsel, Hennie Barnard, how he felt about Eixab’s death.”I’m very sorry about what happened.It was a terrible thing,” he added.Judge Mainga was not convinced that he showed genuine remorse.While saying that he accepted that Whatley had been haunted by the incident, the Judge added that he had not been convinced by Whatley’s profession of remorse.Whatley had tried for years to avoid standing trial, and when he told the court that he felt remorse over Eixab’s death, it was only done with a perfunctory statement to that effect, the Judge commented.Deputy Prosecutor General Job Kozonguizi represented the State in the latter stages of Whatley’s trial.