Namibian gets life in prison for knife murder in UK

A Deadly knife attack on a young Namibian woman in the United Kingdom (UK) a year ago was “vicious and persistent”, a judge remarked before sentencing the woman’s killer to life imprisonment on Friday.

Namibian citizen Mateus Johannes’ fatal attack on his girlfriend, Claudia Kambanza (23), in Hull in north-east England on 26 January last year, “represents a violation of the trust and security that normally exists between people in an intimate relationship”, judge Barry Cotter said during Johannes’ sentencing in the Crown Court in Hull.

“Domestic abuse offences are regarded as particularly serious within the criminal justice system,” Cotter told Johannes.
“Your belief that as she was your girlfriend she had no right to act as you believed she had and that it was disrespecting you was the root cause of your murderous attack,” the judge also remarked.

Cotter sentenced Johannes (28) to life imprisonment. The judge also stipulated that Johannes will have to serve at least 22 and a half years of imprisonment before he may be considered for release on parole.

That period takes into account the year that Johannes was held in custody before he was sentenced.
Johannes pleaded guilty to charges of murder and possessing a knife on 2 December last year.

In his sentencing remarks, Cotter recounted that Kambanza originally went to the UK in August 2022.
She started to study at a college in Hull in September 2023.

She and Johannes knew one another from Namibia, and he had supported her financially, including paying for her flights and accommodation when she travelled from Namibia to the UK.

The judge remarked that matters took a very serious turn on the evening of 25 January last year, when Johannes had an argument with Kambanza and accused her of being a prostitute.
A review of messages on Kambanza’s WhatsApp account showed no evidence that she had been sexually involved with another man, Cotter noted.

He told Johannes: “You were wholly wrong. […] However, even if she had decided to end the relationship, that was her right and also to be able to do so free from any violence and intimidation.”

In the early morning hours of 26 January last year, Johannes arrived at Kambanza’s address in Hull.
After getting into her room, he attacked her.

Kambanza tried to flee from him and ran down a street while shouting for help.
Johannes pursued her and, after catching up with her, attacked her with a knife he had brought from the house where she stayed.
He stabbed her in the stomach and chest.

“You had stabbed her with such force that the knife handle had broken off. You left the knife protruding out of her chest,” Cotter recounted.
“Even that level of savage violence was not enough, and when she fell to the floor you stamped on her,” the judge continued.

He stated: “In my view it is clear beyond any doubt at all that during this assault you intended to kill her; there is no sensible conclusion to the contrary given the brutality and double stabbing.”

Johannes ran off when a passer-by stopped and shouted at him.
A paramedic was on the scene quickly and an ambulance arrived within five minutes, the judge said.
While being transported to a hospital, Kamwanza kept saying Johannes’ name.

At the hospital, she went into cardiac arrest and emergency surgery could not save her life.
Johannes made a phone call to a friend and told him he had stabbed his girlfriend, “for cheating on you and disrespecting you”, and then called the police to also tell them he had stabbed his girlfriend, Cotter recounted the events.

He commented that Kambanza “suffered significantly both mentally and physically before her death”.
“She must have been terrified as she was seriously assaulted in her room and then chased down the street before being caught and fatally assaulted, including being stamped on,” Cotter said.

He added: “This was of a different nature to most of the fatal knife attacks blighting the lives of so many people in this country. It was more vicious and persistent.”
The court was informed that Johannes was working in home care in the town of Peterborough, about 120km north of London, before he committed the murder.