A windhoek resident who admitted that he murdered his police officer girlfriend by strangling her nearly two years ago received a 28-year prison term when he was sentenced in the High Court yesterday.
The explanation that Justus Mbirimujo (32) gave when he admitted guilt on a charge of murder fell significantly short of taking the court into his confidence about the events that led to the death of his girlfriend, Kauaa Karuuombe (29), judge Christie Liebenberg commented during Mbirimujo’s sentencing.
Liebenberg said when the admissions that Mbirimujo made are considered, the actual reasons for the killing of Karuuombe seemed impossible to understand.
“Whatever it was, it could never justify the taking of another person’s life,” he remarked.
“Society expects that persons in intimate relationships should not let their frustrations and emotions dictate their actions, especially not against the other person in the relationship. This case is just another example of a senseless killing taking place within the family structure where the accused, for absolutely no reason, ended the life of his children’s mother and virtually left them without both parents,” the judge continued.
Liebenberg convicted Mbirimujo of murder, read with the provisions of the Combating of Domestic Violence Act, after he admitted that he killed Karuuombe in their house in the Otjomuise area of Windhoek on 21 October 2021.
Karuuombe was a member of the Namibian Police’s Special Reserve Force and a mother of four children, the court was informed.
Mbirimujo is the father of her two youngest children, the court also heard.
Mbirimujo said in a written plea statement that Karuuombe left him alone at home with one of their children on the evening that the fatal incident took place.
He said he went to look for her late that evening and asked her to return home with him when he found her.
On their way home, he said, there was “a heated exchange” between him and Karuuombe, during which she swore at him and threatened him with her position as a police officer.
He added that after their arrival home, “a brawl erupted”. During this fight, he said, he pressed Karuuombe down on a mattress, “placed my hands on her neck and strangled her with the intention to kill her”.
Mbirimujo stated: “I strangled her until she died. I then stopped after I observed that she was dead.”
He continued that he slept after the killing.
The next morning, he took his and Karuuombe’s baby to a family member’s house.
Mbirimujo said he then tried to end his life by suicide. This did not succeed.
He said he approached his uncle for advice after that. His uncle told him to take responsibility for the crime that he committed and escorted him to a police station to report the matter, he added.
The court was also informed that Karuuombe got married to another man at Gobabis on 1 October 2021.
The state alleged in its indictment that Mbirimujo indicated to friends and relatives before the incident that he was unhappy about Karuuombe’s decision to get married to someone else.
Testifying in mitigation of sentence after he pleaded guilty near the start of April this year, Mbirimujo denied he was aware that Karuuombe had got married.
Since he did not know about it, he did not have a problem with her marriage, he said.
Mbirimujo made a living as a taxi driver before the murder.
He was arrested on 22 October 2021, and has been held in custody since then.
Defence lawyer Enos Mwakondange, instructed by the Directorate of Legal Aid, represented Mbirimujo during his trial.
The state was represented by deputy prosecutor general Antonia Verhoef.
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