Tearful killer pleads for mercy

WINDHOEK FRED GOEIEMAN

The self-confessed murderer of a Khorixas farmer - whose body was set alight, before his bones were crushed and hidden in a cave, yesterday pleaded tearfully in court for a lenient sentence.
The 28-year-old Otniel Somseb, appearing in the Windhoek High Court, said he was aware that the offence he committed was very serious and that it is inevitable that a jail sentence would be imposed on him. He explained that his parents are very old and that he has a son. He said he was looking after all of them and that he wanted to be reunited with them.
The accused told the court he was crying because of the gruesome crime he committed.
I am very sorry, I will never repeat that again, a sobbing Somseb said.
He then asked with the greatest of respect and humility for the family of the murdered farmer August Soreb Thaniseb to forgive him.
I am also asking forgiveness from my Lord, I will never repeat it again, he said again in tears.
Earlier this month Somseb admitted to the gruesome killing of the Khorixas farmer between February 1 and March 13, 2007 at the Farm De Rust in the vicinity of Uis. His co-accused Terence Naibab, 18, denied guilt.
Somseb yesterday said that he was ready to testify on behalf of the State in Naibab's trial.
The trial was separated when Naibab, denied guilt on all the accounts, including murder, defeating or obstructing the course of justice, housebreaking with intent to steal and theft, as well as stock theft.
Somseb admitted that after the killing he set the deceased's body alight with grass, crushed his bones and of hid them in a cave. The reason for crushing the deceased's bones and hiding them was to make sure that the police would not discover the remains and connect them to the murder.
After a dispute over Thaniseb's goat, which the Somseb slaughtered without permission, a fight allegedly broke out and he allegedly killed the deceased by hitting him with an object.
Somseb further admitted to breaking into deceased's house, where he stole some household items.
Yesterday, the man who described himself as a goat herder, who also earned a living from making and trading sculptures, testified that the stolen items were retrieved from him by the police. He added the police also retrieved the meat of the goat they slaughtered without the permission of the deceased. Somseb insisted that they only ate the liver of the goat.
Judge Naomi Shivute postponed the case until May 15 for sentencing.