Booze, pills before fatal shooting
Willem Visagie Barnard had earlier told the court he had no recollection of the incident where his wife was fatally shot with a revolver at their farmhouse.
Hours of excessive drinking while watching the funeral of South African white supremacist leader Eugene Terreblanche preceded the fatal shooting of a woman allegedly at the hands of her husband, the High Court heard yesterday.
The murder trial of a pensioner accused of murdering his wife seven years ago continued in the Windhoek High Court with chilling testimony about the events preceding the alleged killing.
A psychologist, who consulted with murder suspect and farmer Willem Visagie Barnard, said that it is possible the accused might not have been able to appreciate the moral and legal wrongfulness of his alleged actions, due to memory loss, which the psychologist, Gerhard Marx, said is due to timing and the amount and combination of psycho-active substances the accused, Willem Visagie Barnard, and his wife consumed during the course of 9 April 2010, the date on which the murder occurred.
He told the court that the intake of medical depressants together with heavy alcohol consumption likely caused memory loss for the short period of being intoxicated from the substances.
The consumption of brandy together with Alprazolam, for social phobia, and Zopiclone, for insomnia, led up to and culminated in the death of Anette Barnard on the date, Marx suggested.
The 64-year-old farmer from the Aranos area, pleaded not guilty to killing his 55-year-old wife with a single gunshot to the head on 9 April 2010.
The psychologist was called by the defence.
Advocate Louis Botes appeared on instructions of Christopher Garbers from Garbers & Associates in Mariental for Barnard.
Marx concluded after consultations of over 660 minutes between 2012 and 2014 on different occasions that depressant intake and excessive alcohol consumption might have led to memory loss.
He stated in evidence that he was requested to provide an opinion on whether the amount and type of substance consumed by the accused on 9 April 2010 could result in memory loss.
This was in the events leading up to and culminating in the death of Anette some time that evening.
Marx said that Barnard had never seen a psychiatrist or a psychologist until he saw him in April 2010.
However, he added Barnard consulted his regular general practitioner since 1982 with symptoms suggestive of social phobia and was prescribed Benzodiazepine for this problem until the later part of 2010.
“During the months preceding his wife death, he started using Zopiclone 7.5mg at night to help with a lack of sleep,” Marx explained.
According to him, the accused is otherwise in good health.
He has never used illicit drugs but started to use alcohol at about the age of 20.
He said Barnard explained that his alcohol consumption slowly increased over the years.
“The accused consumed heavily in the three months leading up to the death of his wife on 9 April 2010,” he concluded.
He testified that on the fateful day, Barnard took 1mg Alprazolam after breakfast and started drinking brandy around 12:00 while watching the funeral of Eugene Terre'Blanche on television with his wife.
He further took 1mg of Alprazolam after lunch and took off to start an engine somewhere away from the house.
This was after having taken five to six drinks by the time he left.
“We are talking about anything between 12 and 15 standard drinks which is between 300 and 350ml of brandy,” he explained.
The psychologist said Barnard went back to the living room but cannot remember anything from that point onwards until he woke up to find his wife in a pool of blood next to him.
He further said the past behaviour is a predictor of future behaviour and that Barnard's past behaviour and actuarial profile does not fit with a person who would resort to violence with a firearm.
“In the past, even under extreme provocation, where his wife on three occasions tried to harm him, he managed to refrain from violence,” Max observed.
The trial continues before Judge Naomi Shivute.
FRED GOEIEMAN
The murder trial of a pensioner accused of murdering his wife seven years ago continued in the Windhoek High Court with chilling testimony about the events preceding the alleged killing.
A psychologist, who consulted with murder suspect and farmer Willem Visagie Barnard, said that it is possible the accused might not have been able to appreciate the moral and legal wrongfulness of his alleged actions, due to memory loss, which the psychologist, Gerhard Marx, said is due to timing and the amount and combination of psycho-active substances the accused, Willem Visagie Barnard, and his wife consumed during the course of 9 April 2010, the date on which the murder occurred.
He told the court that the intake of medical depressants together with heavy alcohol consumption likely caused memory loss for the short period of being intoxicated from the substances.
The consumption of brandy together with Alprazolam, for social phobia, and Zopiclone, for insomnia, led up to and culminated in the death of Anette Barnard on the date, Marx suggested.
The 64-year-old farmer from the Aranos area, pleaded not guilty to killing his 55-year-old wife with a single gunshot to the head on 9 April 2010.
The psychologist was called by the defence.
Advocate Louis Botes appeared on instructions of Christopher Garbers from Garbers & Associates in Mariental for Barnard.
Marx concluded after consultations of over 660 minutes between 2012 and 2014 on different occasions that depressant intake and excessive alcohol consumption might have led to memory loss.
He stated in evidence that he was requested to provide an opinion on whether the amount and type of substance consumed by the accused on 9 April 2010 could result in memory loss.
This was in the events leading up to and culminating in the death of Anette some time that evening.
Marx said that Barnard had never seen a psychiatrist or a psychologist until he saw him in April 2010.
However, he added Barnard consulted his regular general practitioner since 1982 with symptoms suggestive of social phobia and was prescribed Benzodiazepine for this problem until the later part of 2010.
“During the months preceding his wife death, he started using Zopiclone 7.5mg at night to help with a lack of sleep,” Marx explained.
According to him, the accused is otherwise in good health.
He has never used illicit drugs but started to use alcohol at about the age of 20.
He said Barnard explained that his alcohol consumption slowly increased over the years.
“The accused consumed heavily in the three months leading up to the death of his wife on 9 April 2010,” he concluded.
He testified that on the fateful day, Barnard took 1mg Alprazolam after breakfast and started drinking brandy around 12:00 while watching the funeral of Eugene Terre'Blanche on television with his wife.
He further took 1mg of Alprazolam after lunch and took off to start an engine somewhere away from the house.
This was after having taken five to six drinks by the time he left.
“We are talking about anything between 12 and 15 standard drinks which is between 300 and 350ml of brandy,” he explained.
The psychologist said Barnard went back to the living room but cannot remember anything from that point onwards until he woke up to find his wife in a pool of blood next to him.
He further said the past behaviour is a predictor of future behaviour and that Barnard's past behaviour and actuarial profile does not fit with a person who would resort to violence with a firearm.
“In the past, even under extreme provocation, where his wife on three occasions tried to harm him, he managed to refrain from violence,” Max observed.
The trial continues before Judge Naomi Shivute.
FRED GOEIEMAN
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