Gruesome murder haunts victim’s child

By Maria Kandjungu

A young girl who found her mother’s lifeless body in a pool of blood after she was brutally and fatally stabbed 28 times by her boyfriend six years ago told the Oshakati High Court that the gruesome scene negatively affected her academic performance leading to her dropping out of primary school.

The then 14 year-old witnessed her mother’s boyfriend fleeing from the scene of the murder.

She then found her mother’s bloody body on the bedroom floor on the morning of March 5 2015 after she was knifed to death. The girl, now 20, says the murder of her mother and the bloody scene which she still clearly remembers interfered with her education so much that she left school at grade 5 as there was no one willing to pay her school fees when she began to perform poorly.

This is contained in the judgment delivered by Oshakati High Court Judge Herman January who sentenced Mateus Sakeus to 35 years in prison for killing Annalise Tuunane Ndakongele his former girlfriend and mother of his then two-year-old son. The murder is said to have come after a quarrel erupted between the two while they were ‘enjoying a drink’ at the deceased’s house.

Sakeus fled the crime scene leaving his once loved one bleeding to death on her bedroom floor where her body was discovered the next morning by her daughter and neighbours.

The daughter who took the witness stand recently told the court that she still feels bad about the death of her mother which subsequently led to her moving in with her father’s relatives. She says that she however had to move out again because of misunderstandings. According to her, the incident did not only turn her life upside down but also led to her three siblings now being scattered amongst relatives.

The post-mortem report stated that puncture wounds were found in the upper and lower lobe of the deceased’s right lung. Wounds penetrating her chest cavity, trachea and thyroid were also found while some veins were cut and blood was found in her chest cavity.

Other stab wounds were also found on her upper body, hands and arms which according to the report shows that the victim was attempting to defend and fend off the attacks.

Delivery his judgement, January stated that provoked or not and even being under the influence of alcohol is not justification to taking someone’s life in the way that Mateus did.

“The pathologist counted 27 wounds and the investigating officer 28 wounds. It seems that the accused stabbed the deceased indiscriminately. He fled the scene leaving his once loved one to her own peril,” the judge stated adding that it is alarming, the pace of which many people lose their lives in Namibia as a result of the perpetrations of criminal behaviour whether intentional or negligently.

“There is a challenge to our courts to uphold our Constitution wherein the right to life of each and every Namibian and/or person irrespective of their race or social standing is protected and is guaranteed.

Crimes that infringe the ultimate privilege of being alive, healthy and enjoyment of one’s life as one chooses to, are extremely serious,” January said.

The judge added that the law-abiding Namibian population is calling out for the eradication of not only gender related crimes but crime in general.

“When our courts fail in this, we risk a situation where people will be inclined to take the law into their own hands,” he said.