Magistrate blasts gender violence plague

A regional magistrate last week slammed the high rate of gender-based violence cases in the country, while sentencing a man to 19 years behind bars for stabbing his girlfriend to death during a fit of jealousy.
Otjiwarongo Regional Court Magistrate Marilize du Plessis said during the sentencing of Paulus Gowaseb, 29, that stiff sentences supposedly acting as a deterrent against gender-based violence “is not having a great success rate, in as far as there being a reduction of these types of cases passing through the doors of this court”.
Gowaseb murdered his girlfriend, Elizabeth Koch, 30, in Otjiwarongo in 2013.
Du Plessis added that another aim of sentencing is “retribution”, in terms of the family and the public, who demand that justice be served.
She said there “seems to be a mindset among the male population of our country that women can be regarded as their possessions, and any transgression they commit, imagined or otherwise, warrants and justifies any action that they take against them”.
Du Plessis added that the case before her was a “textbook case” of gender-based violence, which bore “practically identical facts” to similar cases, most of which start with alcohol, escalate to a jealous fight and result in the death of the partner.
Gowaseb had pleaded guilty to the murder of his girlfriend after a night of drinking, and admitted during the trial that he stabbed her multiple times across her body and her head, before going to sleep, while she was still breathing.
She died sometime in the morning, while he slept.
During the arguments in mitigation of sentencing on Wednesday, Gowaseb asked Koch’s family and friends for forgiveness “for the wrong I did”.
Regional court prosecutor Leonard Tjiveze asked the court to hand down a “severe sentence, in order to send a clear message that we do not tolerate domestic violence”.
Tjiveze told the court that the trial did not clarify what drove Gowaseb “to such anger that he could not stop and think of what he was doing”.
He added that domestic violence crimes are “escalating”, and told the court that the time will come “when society realises we need to root out this evil”.
Tjiveze warned that that although Gowaseb had pleaded guilty and offered a public apology in court, this should not be seen as a “sign of attrition”.
He said “pleading guilty does not make the offence less severe”, before adding that Gowaseb’s actions on the night of the murder did not show remorse.
“He had no intention to render assistance,” Tjiveze said, adding that Gowaseb admitted to going to sleep, while Koch died a “horrible and silent death”.
Du Plessis agreed with the State, noting during sentencing that the force used to inflict the multiple stab wounds “was so severe, that they penetrated to the internal organs”.
Among, other things, the victim died as a result of injuries to the liver.
Du Plessis said the court is in full agreement with the State that Gowaseb “must have realised that you had very seriously injured the deceased. Yet you did not seek help, in contrast, you went to sleep”.
Considering the mitigating factors, Du Plessis said the accused had offered an apology in court, pleaded guilty and shown “some signs of remorse”.
Mitigating factors included the fact that Gowaseb had spent one and half years in custody. Furthermore, Du Plessis listed his personal circumstances, including the fact that he had acquired painting skills, despite his young age, and the fact that he left school after Grade 8.
She also noted that he used his monthly income to support his own child and two siblings.
She explained that the regional courts in Namibia are bound by the maximum imposable sentence, as determined by legislation, which is 20 years imprisonment.
Gowaseb received a 19-year imprisonment sentence.
Kenneth Siambango from the Directorate of Legal Aid acted on behalf of the accused.

JANA-MARI SMITH