Child killer jailed for 30 years

THE nearly five-year-old Athanosius Simbo’s cries fell on deaf ears while the man who had raised him as his own son was carrying out a fatal assault on him, a Windhoek High Court judge remarked before he sentenced child killer Simon Dawid to an effective prison term of 30 years yesterday.

Athanosius was a defenceless and innocent child who looked up to Dawid as a protector and instead was murdered by him “in the most brutal and painful manner imaginable”, judge Nate Ndauendapo said during Dawid’s sentencing.

“His screams for forgiveness, ‘sorry Papa, sorry Papa’, fell on deaf ears as [Dawid] went on bashing his head against the concrete floor,” Ndauendapo also recounted some of the evidence heard during Dawid’s trial.

Dawid’s motive for killing the boy was that he had heard rumours that he was not the biological father of Athanosius, whose mother had been involved in a romantic relationship with Dawid previously, the judge further noted.

On that score, he commented that even if it was so that Dawid was not the boy’s biological father, Athanosius “was innocent and the sins of the mother should not have been visited on him”.

Dawid (50) was charged with having murdered Athanosius at his home in Katutura in Windhoek during the evening of 5 July 2015. He denied guilt on a charge of murder, read with the provisions of the Combating of Domestic Violence Act, during his trial, but was found guilty seven weeks ago.

During a presentence hearing three weeks ago, Dawid acknowledged he was responsible for the boy’s death and said he felt “very bad” about what happened. He also said he knew he made a mistake and was sorry about what he did.

Ndauendapo commented yesterday that Dawid did not show any remorse though, and that he also continued to blame a neighbour for the boy’s death – an accusation which had been proven to be false, the judge said.

Dawid told the court during his presentence hearing in October that he was responsible for letting Athanosius fall to the floor of his house. On a further question from the judge, he confirmed that he slammed the boy to the floor, and that this caused his death.

The reason for the assault on Athanosius, he added, was that people were telling him he was not the boy’s father.

During the trial, two people who were living at the same property as Dawid testified they saw him assaulting Athanosius by throwing him to the floor when they peeked into his house through a window after they had heard the boy crying and the sound of thuds coming from the house.

Athanosius, who was killed a month and a half before his fifth birthday, suffered three distinct skull fractures and died as a result of head injuries, a doctor recorded in an autopsy report.

Ndauendapo sentenced Dawid to 35 years’ imprisonment, of which five years are suspended for a period of five years on condition that Dawid is not convicted of murder committed during the period of suspension.

Dawid has been kept in custody since he was found guilty on 24 September.

Defence lawyer Vernon Lutibezi represented him during the last part of his trial.

State advocate Erick Moyo prosecuted.