A Hardap region resident accused of using a rock weighing more than 14 kg to kill his girlfriend was found guilty of murder, rape and two other charges in the Windhoek High Court yesterday.
Jeremias Nowaseb (40) was the last person seen in the company of his then girlfriend, Christina Kooper (22), before she disappeared at Aranos in the Hardap region at the end of October 2020, judge Dinnah Usiku recounted in the judgement she delivered in Nowaseb’s trial.
She said two witnesses testified during Nowaseb’s trial that they had seen him assaulting Kooper during the early morning hours of 31 October 2020.
During his trial, Nowaseb claimed he defended himself by hitting Kooper twice with a stone after she had struck him with the same rock.
Usiku said when Nowaseb hit Kooper, she was unarmed and did not attack him.
As a result, he was not acting in self-defence when he struck Kooper with the rock he said he had taken from her, the judge said.
She said the rock with which Kooper is suspected to have been killed weighed 14.5kg.
The bloodstained rock was found at the scene where Kooper’s body was discovered near Aranos on 1 November 2020.
A medical doctor who carried out a post-mortem examination on Kooper’s body recorded multiple injuries to her head, including a skull fracture, and told the court that in his opinion she could not have been struck less than five times with a stone.
Given the size of the rock and the number of blows inflicted to Kooper’s head, there is no doubt that Nowaseb had the clear intention to bring about her death, Usiku said.
Nowaseb told the court the altercation between himself and Kooper had taken place after she had admitted to him that she had had intercourse with another man.
He also said he was confused after the incident and during his confusion, he went to the police to report that Kooper was missing.
The court also heard testimony that Nowaseb made admissions to police officers after his arrest.
He told the officer investigating his case that he confronted Kooper about rumours that she had sexual relations with other men while he was absent from home, and that he threw a stone at her, demanded to have intercourse with her, and hit her with a stone afterwards.
Usiku found that the evidence proved Nowaseb had intercourse with Kooper under coercive circumstances, and as a result, she convicted him on a count of rape.
She also found him guilty of assault and obstructing the course of justice, which Nowaseb did by reporting Kooper missing and directing the police to a place near a dumping site as the scene where he said he had last seen her.
Nowaseb has to return to court on 8 November for a presentence hearing.
He is being represented by legal aid lawyer Eliaser Shikwa.
State advocate Ethel Ndlovu is representing the prosecution.
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