Police officer jailed for 36 years over murder

A police officer whose career in law enforcement was ended by the fatal shooting of a young rival in a love triangle has received a heavy prison term at the end of his trial in the Windhoek High Court.

A FORMER police inspector who killed a teenage love rival at Gobabis nearly three years ago is a danger to society, a judge commented when she sentenced him to an effective prison term of 36 years yesterday.

Lazarus Awaseb (50) used a police service pistol without authorisation and committed a crime – something that he as a police officer was supposed to prevent – when he shot and killed the 18-year-old Odilo Motonane at Gobabis in the early morning hours of 22 March 2016, judge Dinnah Usiku recounted during Awaseb’s sentencing in the Windhoek High Court.

“He can clearly be regarded as a danger to society, and the only way is to remove him from public circulation for a substantial period of time. His sentence must serve as a wake-up call to other uniformed men and women who are going to find themselves in a similar situation,” the judge said.

She sentenced Awaseb to 28 years’ imprisonment on a charge of murder, and an eight-year jail term on a count of attempted murder. With those sentences not ordered to be served concurrently, Awaseb received an effective prison term of 36 years. Judge Usiku also sentenced him to two years’ imprisonment for the possession of a firearm without a licence, a two-year jail term on a charge of unlawful possession of ammunition, and six months’ imprisonment on a count of malicious damage to property – but ordered that those sentences would run concurrently with the sentence on the charge of attempted murder.

In addition to the jail terms, Awaseb was declared unfit to possess a firearm for a period of five years from the time of his eventual release from prison.

Awaseb denied guilt on all of the charges during his trial, but was found guilty in September last year.

He claimed during the trial that Motonane, who was involved in a romantic relationship with a woman who had also been romantically linked to Awaseb, had been shot accidentally during a tussle over a police pistol.

The judge found, though, that Awaseb had a direct intention to kill Motonane when he fired at him at close range, and then shot him a second time from a greater distance. Motonane was shot twice in the back.

Judge Usiku also found that Awaseb tried to kill his girlfriend, Mildred Haoses, as well during the same incident in which Motonane lost his life, by shooting at her and wounding her in the thigh.

The shooting took place after Awaseb had gone to Haoses’ house during the early morning hours, and found Motonane present in the house.

The judge further convicted Awaseb of malicious damage to property, based on evidence that on 18 March 2016, he damaged a home theatre system, television set and DVD player that he had previously bought for Haoses. It was clear from the evidence that he damaged the items because he was angry about Haoses having been involved with another man, judge Usiku remarked when she delivered her verdict in September.

Awaseb was the commander of the police’s Criminal Investigation Unit at Epako, Gobabis, at the time of the incident, which ended in an unsuccessful attempt by Awaseb to end his own life by shooting himself in the chest.

Having been convicted, Awaseb told the judge last month that he wanted to ask Motonane’s mother, the Gobabis community and Namibia for their forgiveness. However, judge Usiku remarked during the sentencing that it did not appear that Awaseb had wholeheartedly accepted responsibility for the crimes, and said she was not convinced that he had shown genuine remorse.

Awaseb has already spent close to three years in custody following his arrest.

He was represented by defence lawyer Mese Tjituri during his trial. State advocate Cliff Lutibezi prosecuted.