Omusati man found guilty of stabbing girlfriend 20 times

A man who stabbed his girlfriend 20 times with a knife at a village in the Omusati region has been found guilty of murder.

Judge Duard Kesslau convicted Titus Mundonga (40) on a count of murder, read with the provisions of the Combating of Domestic Violence Act, in a judgement delivered in the Oshakati High Court on Thursday.

Kesslau rejected Mundonga’s claim that he acted in self-defence when he stabbed his girlfriend, Saima Peelenga (30), in her bedroom. The judge remarked that Mundonga’s claim was “an afterthought” and false. Mundonga killed Peelenga at Oshitoo, a village in the Omusati region, during the evening of 14 July 2020.

A medical doctor who carried out a post-mortem examination on Peelenga’s body told the court she recorded 20 stab injuries on the body. The injuries were on Peelenga’s face, chest, arms and abdomen, and she had been stabbed in the back six times.

Mundonga claimed he was defending himself against Peelenga, who he said had a panga with which she tried to hit him.

Witnesses told the court they heard the sounds of a quarrel coming from Peelenga’s room, and then heard sounds they described as beating or stabbing noises.

Witnesses recounted seeing Mundonga leaving Peelenga’s room with a pocket knife in his hands.

He then returned to Peelenga’s room, and one witness says he heard Mundonga say, “You are not dead yet?”, before he again heard beating noises. Witnesses found Peelenga lying in a pool of blood after Mundonga left the scene.

Mundonga told the court he went to his father’s house, where he slept until the police came looking for him.

Mundonga’s version that he had acted in self-defence was not put to witnesses when they testified, and was not communicated to the police during their investigation of the case or to the court at the start of his trial, but emerged only during his own testimony, Kesslau noted.

“The evidence is that [Mundonga] and [Peelenga] were in her room,” Kesslau recounted.

“Serious threats could be heard made by the accused at various stages of the attack. The witnesses heard multiple stabbing or hitting noises, after which the accused exited the room with an Okapi knife.

“He then returned and re-entered the room, made more threats, after which more stabbing sounds were heard.” Kesslau concluded: “I am satisfied that the state proved beyond reasonable doubt that [Mundonga] murdered [Peelenga].”

Mundonga used a lethal weapon to stab Peelenga in the most vulnerable parts of her body, Kesslau noted.

“He then returned to the scene for a second time to complete his task,” the judge said, adding that Mundonga committed the murder with a direct intent to kill. Mundonga, who has been in custody since his arrest, has to return to court for a presentence hearing on Wednesday.

He is being represented by defence lawyer Mukaya Nyambe.

Deputy prosecutor general Ruben Shileka is representing the state.