Vicious wife killer jailed 25 years

By Maria Kandjungu

THE case in which a husband viciously murdered his wife of 21 years by stomping on her private parts several times and smashing her head, is the most brutal and cruel case of Gender Based Violence the Windhoek High Court has dealt with, Judge Naomi Shivute has said.

Shivute made the remarks this week when she sentenced the 56-year-old Andries Scott to 25 years imprisonment for brutally murdering his wife and mother of three in 2017 over suspected infidelity.

“It is hardly imaginable that a husband could assault his wife the way the accused did,” Shivute remarked.

Scott claimed that he ‘saw black’ on August 2 2017, after his wife Anna Scott, who was intoxicated at the time told him that she enjoyed sex with other men more than she did with him.

Court documents highlight that he cruelly and viciously attacked the deceased whilst she was under the influence of intoxicating liquor, trampling on the deceased’s private and most vulnerable parts as well as on her head several times before going to sleep, leaving the deceased on the floor of their bedroom.

He then picked up her body the next morning, placed it on a mattress, covered it with blankets and went about his daily activities. The body was discovered three days later by his nephew.

Court records state that the deceased died of severe soft tissue trauma mainly on the pelvis area and bleeding on the right occipital area with swelling of the brain caused by a blunt object after she was trampled on.

Judge Shivute noted that the aggravating factors are that the accused committed a domestic violence offence which is viewed seriously by the court.

“The accused has murdered his wife of 21 years. His actions caused his family to fall apart.

The impact of this offence has a serious effect on the lives of the accused and deceased’s children. The minor children are left without a mother and a father figure to look after them,” she said, adding that his vicious acts are unsurpassed and extreme in comparison to cases handled by the court in the recent past.

She said that it is a fact that the accused acted recklessly in the sense that he foresaw that his unlawful actions of assaulting his wife would result in her death.

The crime, Shivute said had a serious impact on the lives of the couple’s three children, with the oldest being 22 -who did not only have to testify in court against her father- but is also left to take care of two minor siblings, the youngest being nine.

Court records show that the responsibility of taking care of her siblings was made even more difficult by the Covid-19 pandemic that saw her unfortunately lose her job.

“It has been aggravated by the fact that the offence was committed in the domestic setting.

A stiffer sentence is thus called for. The interest of society demands that society should be given recognition when sentences are imposed in cases of this nature. Furthermore, the interest of society in this case outweighs the personal circumstances of the accused. Murder is a serious offence and domestic violence on its own is an aggravating factor.

If one has due regard to the interest of society, the seriousness of the offence should be given due consideration,” Shivute said before sentencing Scott to 25 years imprisonment.