A MARIENTAL man who was found guilty of murder and seven other crimes committed during a drunken night near the end of 2017 is due to be sentenced in the Windhoek High Court tomorrow.
Addressing judge Christie Liebenberg during a presentence hearing on Monday, state advocate Cliff Lutibezi suggested that Mario Mensah (39) should be sentenced to life imprisonment on the murder charge on which he was convicted Friday last week.
In practice, a life imprisonment in Namibia translates into a period of 25 years behind bars before a person can be considered for release on parole.
Defence lawyer Ileni Gebhardt suggested a sentence of 30 years imprisonment on the murder charge. Mensah would have to serve two-thirds of such a jail term before he would become eligible to be considered for release on parole.
After hearing the two lawyers’ arguments, judge Liebenberg scheduled Mensah’s sentencing for tomorrow afternoon.
Both Mensah and his father, Mariental business owner Louis Mensah, tearfully asked the judge on Friday to show mercy to him when he is sentenced.
“I did a terrible thing,” Mensah Jr said. “The court’s leniency on me is the only thing I can ask for today.”
He also said he recognised that he had taken somebody’s life when he fired a shot that struck the 36-year-old Christina Adams in the head, killing her, on 23 December 2017. He has on two occasions asked Adams’ mother to forgive him, Mensah added.
“My lord, I stand here today, acknowledging my mistakes, my faults,” Mensah said.
Judge Liebenberg found Mensah guilty on charges of murder, attempted murder, assault with intent to do grievous bodily harm, pointing of a firearm, discharging a firearm in a public place, theft and possession of a firearm and ammunition without a licence. All of the crimes were committed during the early morning hours of 23 December 2017.
It all started when Mensah found a pistol at a nightclub owned by his father and took the gun with him as he left the club with a bottle of liquor.
The police later established that the pistol had been stolen from a vehicle in Windhoek in January 2014, and had been missing from then until it was found with Mensah.
Having been drinking during the evening that he picked up the gun, Mensah ended up firing a shot at someone he encountered on a street at Mariental, also fired off shots in frustration about news that his girlfriend had decided to leave him, and joined someone sitting by a fire at the house where Adams also lived.
Mensah assaulted the man at the fire by hitting him with the liquor bottle after noticing that the man had been helping himself to the contents of the bottle. As Christine Adams and other people at the house came to check what the commotion outside was about, he fired the shot that struck Adams in the head.
Mensah initially claimed he was acting in self-defence when he fired the shot, but also said the shot had gone off accidentally.
With one of the prosecution’s witnesses having told the court that she saw Mensah pointing the pistol at Adams’ head and firing the shot that killed her, judge Liebenberg concluded that Mensah’s version that he wanted to fire warning shots into the air and the fatal shot accidentally went off was “not merely improbable, but without a doubt false”.
Mensah told the court he has had problems managing his anger, and that he also had a history of battling with alcohol and drug abuse.
He also displayed a pattern of aggressive behaviour during the night he committed the crimes which culminated in the killing of Adams, judge Liebenberg remarked.
Mensah was kept in custody for about seven months following the incidents, and was then released on bail. His bail was withdrawn following the delivery of the verdict in his trial.
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