A 27-year-old Drimiopsis resident, accused of kidnapping, rape and murder, yesterday pleaded not-guilty to the charges before Windhoek High Court Judge Naomi Shivute.
Abel Mokalabatho, however, pleaded guilty to the charge of defeating or obstructing the course of justice, but the State did not accept the plea, as he did not admit all elements of the offence. Accordingly, Judge Shivute entered a not guilty plea.
The prosecution is charging Makalabatho with three counts of rape, one count of kidnapping, one count of murder and one count of obstructing the course of justice.
It is alleged by the State that on 1 and 2 August 2020, the accused and the victim, Anna Geinamseb (27), were drinking together at a shebeen at Drimiopsis in the Gobabis district.
It is further alleged that when the victim left to go and use the toilet, Mokalabatho followed her and raped her. He then forcefully took her to his house, where he committed the second and third counts of rape.
The State indicates that the victim was intoxicated, rendering her incapable of communicating her unwillingness. On the count of murder, Mokalabatho allegedly stabbed the victim with a knife on her neck and strangled her to death with a piece of wire. To cover up his alleged deed, he buried the victim in a manhole, cleaned his bedroom to remove the victim's blood and buried the knife underneath some plants.
Furthermore, he informed the police that the victim left for a farm in the company of an unknown man after they had consensual sex in the toilet.
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In a plea explanation, read to the Court by his Legal Aid-instructed lawyer Mbanga Siyomunji, the accused said Geinamseb stabbed herself in the neck after they had a quarrel because of a call he received from his ex-girlfriend.
He further said he tried to stop her but she managed to stab herself.
On the kidnapping charge, he said he and Geinamseb started a new relationship and she accompanied him to his house voluntarily.
He further denied raping her three times and said they had consensual sex once during the night in question.
With regards to the defeating charge, he said after Geinamseb stabbed herself, he panicked and decided to throw the body into a drain, a distance away from his place, and informed the police that she went to a farm with an unknown man.
He also admitted that he cleaned the room, but denied that he disposed of the knife. During his plea in the Gobabis Magistrate's Court, however, Mokalabatho told the court that the following day after he had forcefully taken the victim to his house and raped her, she had threatened to report him to her mother about the incident.
As a result, he stabbed her with a knife in the neck, then strangled her to death with a wire. The doctor who performed an autopsy on the victim testified that she did not die as a result of the stab wound but as a result of asphyxia due to strangulation with a wire. The State is represented by Ethel Ndlovu. Makalabatho is currently detained at Windhoek Correctional Facility at the trial awaiting section.
