Prisoner to appeal against 85-year sentence

A PRISONER serving a jail term of 85 years over a triple murder committed in northern Namibia 17 years ago has received the go-ahead to appeal against the sentence in the Supreme Court.

In light of a Supreme Court judgement in which sentences exceeding the life expectancy of a prisoner were found to be unconstitutional in February last year, long-term prison inmate Tuhafeni Berendisa Kutamudi has prospects to succeed with an appeal against his sentence, acting judge Orben Sibeya has reasoned in the judgement in which he granted Kutamudi leave to appeal to the Supreme Court. Kutamudi received an effective prison term of 85 years when he was sentenced in the Windhoek High Court on three charges of murder in July 2005. His prison term was at that stage the longest yet to have been imposed by a Namibian court, but has in the meantime been surpassed by new record sentences.

He was sentenced after he had been found guilty of the murder of a 65-year-old aunt of his, her 22-year-old daughter, and a neighbour of his aunt, who were stabbed to death at Onhuno, a village in the Eenhana district, on 4 and 5 September 2002.

Kutamudi denied guilt during his trial, but in a confession that he made to a magistrate shortly after his arrest in September 2002 he stated that he killed his aunt and her neighbour by stabbing them with a traditional knife, and that he killed the third victim by stabbing her, too, when she came to his aunt’s house the morning after the first two murders, which he committed the previous day.

His explanation for the killings was that he and his aunt had an argument over a traditional knife that he collected from someone who had borrowed it from him, and that her neighbour also became involved in the quarrel. According to Kutamudi he first stabbed his aunt’s neighbour three times and then stabbed his aunt twice. Both died on the spot.

He stabbed the third victim to death the next morning because he was still annoyed then, he told the magistrate.Kutamudi was 27 years old when he committed the triple murder.

Acting judge Sibeya said in his judgement that Kutamudi’s sentence of 85 years’ imprisonment fell within the class of sentences where a prisoner would have no realistic hope of release, which the Supreme Court found to be unconstitutional in February last year.

He also noted that the Supreme Court pointed out that sentences which exceed the life expectancy of a prisoner would leave the offender with no realistic prospect of release and would amount to cruel, degrading and inhumane punishment.

The Supreme Court further indicated that a sentence of life imprisonment should be the most severe sentence that can be imposed by Namibian courts.

In terms of the current regulations under the Namibian Correctional Service Act, the prison authorities regard life imprisonment as a period of 25 years before a prisoner can be considered for release on parole.