State suggests 31 years in jail for killer of Omaheke farmer

An Omaheke region farmworker who admitted that he murdered and robbed his employer in September 2022 should be sentenced to an effective prison term of 31 years, a prosecutor proposed in the Windhoek High Court yesterday.

State advocate Ian Malumani suggested to judge Philanda Christiaan during a presentence hearing that she should sentence Rodney Hoxobeb (28) to 26 years’ imprisonment on a charge of murder and an effective jail term of three years on a count of robbery with aggravating circumstances.

Malumani also proposed that Hoxobeb should be sentenced to an effective prison term of two years on charges of reckless driving, driving without a driving licence and driving under the influence of alcohol.

Defence lawyer Joseph Andreas, though, proposed that Hoxobeb, who is a first-time offender, be sentenced to an effective prison term of 18 years.

Hoxobeb admitted two weeks ago that he murdered and robbed an Omaheke region farmer, Christof Mungunda (65), who was his employer, in the Tallismanus area north-east of Gobabis on 16 September 2022.

He also admitted that he drove a pickup that belonged to Mungunda negligently on a public road in the Epako area of Gobabis after he had stolen the vehicle at the scene where Mungunda had been killed.

Hoxobeb informed the court in a plea statement that he killed Mungunda by hitting him on his head and neck with an axe handle several times. According to Hoxobeb, he carried out the fatal assault after he had seen Mungunda going to switch off a generator at night.

In his plea statement, Hoxobeb also said he was angry after an altercation with Mungunda earlier that day.

He said he had gone to Mungunda to ask for food, as there was no food at his house, but Mungunda refused to assist him.

Hoxobeb also said he had told Mungunda he could not work on an empty stomach and that he should be taken back to Gobabis if Mungunda did not want to provide food to him, as he felt that Mungunda was mistreating him.

During that conversation, Hoxobeb said, Mungunda insulted him, he reacted by insulting Mungunda, and Mungunda slapped him in the face.

With the state alleging that Hoxobeb had also thrown a large rock, weighing about 59 kilograms, onto Mungunda’s head after he had struck Mungunda with an axe handle, Malumani did not accept Hoxobeb’s plea on the murder charge.

In a judgement delivered on Monday, Christiaan convicted Hoxobeb of murder, committed with a direct intention to kill, after finding that the evidence before her showed Hoxobeb had used a large stone, which was found lying on Mungunda’s head, to kill his victim.

Christiaan also found Hoxobeb guilty of reckless driving and driving under the influence of alcohol.

Andreas argued yesterday that the killing of Mungunda was not premeditated, but that the fatal assault on him was carried out on the spur of the moment.

That was after Hoxobeb had been provoked, mistreated and assaulted, Andreas argued.

“A lengthy term of imprisonment is unavoidable in these circumstances,” Andreas conceded.

Malumani remarked that if Hoxobeb felt mistreated by his employer that did not entitle him to take the law into his own hands.

He argued that Hoxobeb ambushed Mungunda and that the murder was premeditated.

Christiaan postponed Hoxobeb’s sentencing to Tuesday next week.

Hoxobeb is being held in custody.