Murder suspect sentenced for jailbreaking

ONE of the three men accused of committing a gruesome rape and murder at Swakopmund last year was sentenced to a year’s imprisonment yesterday, even before hearing the verdict on those charges.

Michael Tsowaseb (31) was speedily tried in the Swakopmund Magistrate’s Court after being charged with escaping from lawful custody about a week ago. Tsowaseb, together with fellow Swakopmund residents Elton Naubeb and Kinsley Dausab (32), stand accused of the rape and murder of 20-year-old Menesia Owases on the night between September 2 and 3 last year.Owases’s mutilated body was discovered on an open piece of land between Swakopmund’s Tamariskia and Jabalani townships, near the Herman Gmeiner technical school.She had apparently also been stabbed and beaten on the head with a stone.Last Saturday, Owaseb broke out of the Police cell in which he had been detained by breaking and pushing out the burglar bars in front of the cell window.He was not joined by any cellmates.A Police spokesperson, Warrant Officer James Matengu, said yesterday that Tsowaseb could possibly have been working on weakening the bars for days before finally achieving success.He enjoyed only about a week’s worth of freedom, however, as a tip-off from the public led to him being rearrested at the Omihana Reserve at Uis over the weekend.Yesterday, during his first appearance on the charge of escaping from lawful custody, he was immediately sentenced to one year’s imprisonment.During their last appearance in court on the murder and rape charges, Tsowaseb pleaded guilty, but placed the blame for what happened to Owases squarely on the shoulders of co-accused Dauseb.He said he had undressed himself as well as the victim with the intent to rape her, but then realised that she was dead.She had been killed by Dauseb, he argued, who apparently accomplished this by breaking her neck.Dauseb, he said, went on to beat the woman in the face with a rock, and then inserted a bottle into her vagina before beating her private parts with a stone.Her body was then apparently moved a few metres from where the murder took place, Tsowaseb maintained.After his confession, Magistrate Gibson Imbili changed his guilty plea to not guilty.The three men will return to court on these charges on July 5.Tsowaseb, together with fellow Swakopmund residents Elton Naubeb and Kinsley Dausab (32), stand accused of the rape and murder of 20-year-old Menesia Owases on the night between September 2 and 3 last year.Owases’s mutilated body was discovered on an open piece of land between Swakopmund’s Tamariskia and Jabalani townships, near the Herman Gmeiner technical school.She had apparently also been stabbed and beaten on the head with a stone.Last Saturday, Owaseb broke out of the Police cell in which he had been detained by breaking and pushing out the burglar bars in front of the cell window.He was not joined by any cellmates.A Police spokesperson, Warrant Officer James Matengu, said yesterday that Tsowaseb could possibly have been working on weakening the bars for days before finally achieving success.He enjoyed only about a week’s worth of freedom, however, as a tip-off from the public led to him being rearrested at the Omihana Reserve at Uis over the weekend.Yesterday, during his first appearance on the charge of escaping from lawful custody, he was immediately sentenced to one year’s imprisonment.During their last appearance in court on the murder and rape charges, Tsowaseb pleaded guilty, but placed the blame for what happened to Owases squarely on the shoulders of co-accused Dauseb.He said he had undressed himself as well as the victim with the intent to rape her, but then realised that she was dead.She had been killed by Dauseb, he argued, who apparently accomplished this by breaking her neck.Dauseb, he said, went on to beat the woman in the face with a rock, and then inserted a bottle into her vagina before beating her private parts with a stone. Her body was then apparently moved a few metres from where the murder took place, Tsowaseb maintained.After his confession, Magistrate Gibson Imbili changed his guilty plea to not guilty.The three men will return to court on these charges on July 5.