Man who killed partner with scissors sentenced to 22 years in prison

“It was a heartless act, and it was completely unnecessary.”

This was a remark made by judge Claudia Claasen before she sentenced a man convicted of murdering his domestic partner by stabbing her with a pair of scissors to an effective prison term of 22 years on Friday.

Claasen told Rodney Afrikaner (44) during his sentencing in the Windhoek High Court that the killing of a woman by an intimate partner is the worst kind of violence.

“It is betrayal of the worst kind,” she added.

Domestic violence is a relentless plague afflicting Namibia, and it remains a cause for deep societal concern, Claasen said.

Afrikaner was found guilty on a charge of murder, committed without a direct intention to kill, and read with the provisions of the Combating of Domestic Violence Act, on 21 February.

Claasen found that Afrikaner was aware he could kill his romantic partner, Petricia Hochobes (39), by stabbing her three times in her right thigh with a pair of scissors.

The stabbing took place at the house of Afrikaner and Hochobes in the Hakahana area of Windhoek during the evening of 9 February 2019.

The injury to Hochobes’ thigh was fatal, resulting in her death due to a loss of blood.

Afrikaner denied guilt during his trial, which began last August.

Claasen noted in her judgement five weeks ago that an eyewitness told the court Afrikaner had stabbed Hochobes after a quarrel between them.

The quarrel happened after Afrikaner had slapped his and Hochobes’ daughter when she could not recite the days of the week correctly to him.

The eyewitness also testified that Afrikaner had flung a plate of food at Hochobes before the stabbing took place.

The witness said Hochobes was sitting on a bed while breastfeeding her and Afrikaner’s baby when he stabbed her the first time.

Considering the nature of the scissors with which Hochobes was stabbed, “it leaves no question that [Afrikaner] should have foreseen that his actions can cause the death of his partner and reconciled himself to that”, Claasen stated when she delivered her verdict.

During the sentencing on Friday, Claasen noted that Afrikaner fled from the scene after the stabbing and did not do anything to call an ambulance to come to Hochobes’ aid.

Instead, he went to another house, where he went to sleep.

Claasen said she considered that Afrikaner has been held in custody for the past six years, and that his incarceration means that his and Hochobes’ children have had to also live without their father after they lost their mother.

“Then again, criminal actions have consequences,” Claasen said, adding that a lengthy term of imprisonment could not be avoided in Afrikaner’s case.

She sentenced him to 25 years’ imprisonment, of which three years are suspended for a period of five years on condition that he is not convicted of murder committed during the period of suspension.

Afrikaner chose to stand trial without legal representation.

Deputy prosecutor general Tangeni Iitula represented the state.