Domestic violence turns deadly: man on trial for stabbing, cutting girlfriend 51 times

Fifrty-one stab and cut wounds were recorded on the body of a woman found killed in her home at Otjiwarongo in February 2022.

This is according to a post-mortem examination report that became part of the evidence in the trial of murder accused Lolo Kambwela in the Windhoek High Court yesterday.

Kambwela (32) denied guilt on charges of murder, read with the provisions of the Combating of Domestic Violence Act, and defeating or obstructing the course of justice at the start of his trial before judge Claudia Claasen on Tuesday last week.

He is accused of murdering his then girlfriend, Nghimushima Haufiku (19), on 13 February 2022, by stabbing her to death in the house where she lived at Otjiwarongo.

The state is also alleging that Kambwela locked Haufiku’s body up in the shack where she was killed before he left the scene, and hid or threw away the knife with which she had been stabbed.

The court has heard that Haufiku’s body was found lying on a floor and under a bed in the house where she lived.

A Cuban medical doctor carried out an autopsy on Haufiku’s body and completed a report on the post-mortem examination.

With the doctor having returned to Cuba in the meantime, a medical doctor working in the forensic department of the Ministry of Health and Social Services in Windhoek, Mamadi Guriras, explained the findings in the autopsy report to the court yesterday.

In the report, 51 injuries that Guriras said had been caused by a sharp, pointed object were recorded.

The injuries included seven stab wounds to the right side of Haufiku’s neck and six stab injuries to the left side of her neck.

The doctor who carried out the autopsy also recorded 14 stab wounds to Haufiku’s back.

Several cut wounds to Haufiku’s arms and hands indicated that she tried to ward off the attack that claimed her life. Haufiku died as a result of blood loss, Guriras said.

One of the state’s witnesses, Martin Hasheela, testified last week that he spoke to Kambwela at Haufiku’s house during the evening of 13 February 2022.

Hasheela said Kambwela told him he and Haufiku “were not understanding each other” and asked him for advice about their relationship.

He left Kambwela and Haufiku at the house when he went to a bar, and found the house locked when he returned later, Hasheela said.

Police officers arrived at the house with Kambwela later during the evening, Hasheela recounted.

He said when he asked Kambwela where the house keys were, Kambwela said he did not know where he had thrown the keys.

On instructions from the police officers, Kambwela broke a padlock to get access to the house, Hasheela said.

He continued that he noticed blood on the floor and elsewhere in the house.

Haufiku’s body was found lying under the bed in the house, he said.

According to Kambwela, though, the first time he saw Hasheela was after his arrival at the house in the company of police officers, defence lawyer Kenneth Siambango told Hasheela.

Hasheela repeated that he had spoken to Kambwela at the house earlier, and that Kambwela told him he and Haufiku “were not understanding each other”.

The trial is continuing and state advocate Anna Amukugo is prosecuting.