"My life changed. I was heartbroken."
These were the words with which the father of a boy who was killed in the
Kharas region in January 2023 recounted his reaction to his son's death when he testified in the Windhoek High Court yesterday.
Ernst Hammerslag gave his recollection of the death of Amaré Boois, who was his son, while testifying as a state witness in the trial of Amaré's mother, Lucia Boois (37).
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Boois is a former police officer.
Her trial started before judge Philanda Christiaan on Monday last week, with Boois telling the judge she would not plead to the charges of murder, read with the provisions of the Combating of Domestic Violence Act, and defeating or obstructing the course of justice on which she is being prosecuted.
In light of Boois' stance, Christiaan recorded pleas of not guilty on both charges.
The state is alleging that Boois left her mother's house at Swakopmund, where she lived with Amaré, on 9 January 2023 and travelled with the boy to the //Kharas region.
Boois is alleged to have killed Amaré at a farm in the Bethanie area on 12 January 2023.
The boy was killed when he was stabbed at least 15 times with a knife or other sharp object, the state is alleging.
After Amaré was killed, Boois allegedly buried his body and set some clothes and other objects alight in an effort to frustrate a police investigation and to conceal or destroy evidence.
In his testimony yesterday, Hammerslag said he met Boois in 2021 when he picked her up while she was hitchhiking.
He gave her a lift to Bethanie, and a month later she contacted him in Windhoek, Hammerslag said. One evening a few weeks after that, he contacted her, and they met, he said.
He continued that a few months after their meeting, Boois informed him she was pregnant with his child.
Hammerslag said he was married at that stage.
During her pregnancy, Boois contacted his wife and sent her a photo of herself, Hammerslag said, remarking: "It looked like an obsession."
Boois informed him during December 2021 that she had given birth, and during 2022 she also sent photos of herself and Amaré to his wife, Hammerslag recounted.
He said after she told him he should pay her child support, he began to send her money.
In August 2022, Boois travelled to Rehoboth with Amaré and left the boy with Hammerslag's mother, he testified.
Amaré lived with his mother until Boois fetched him in December 2022, Hammerslag said.
The next month, he contacted Boois' mother to enquire about Amaré's welfare, and was told that Boois had left with the boy, he said.
After that, his sister received a late-night phone call from the police at Keetmanshoop, who informed her that Amaré's body had been found, Hammerslag said.
"My life changed," he said about receiving that news. "I was heartbroken."
Boois, who has chosen to stand trial without legal representation, did not want to pose any questions in cross-examination to Hammerslag.
"I want nothing to do with him. I want to move on with my life," she said.
A police officer recorded that Boois had cut marks on her arms, allegedly made when she tried to end her own life, when a statement was taken from her after her arrest.
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Boois claimed, in a statement that she wrote for the police, that Hammerslag forced her to have intercourse with him.
She recounted that she did not receive financial support from Hammerslag, and that she "got fed up and took the baby to his family".
In December 2022, she went to fetch Amaré from Hammerslag's family and made a complaint to a social worker at Rehoboth because "he was dirty and looked sick", Boois stated to the police.
"I got tired of all these problems and decided to kill myself and my son," she wrote in her statement. "At least he won't suffer any more."
She added: "I even got robbed at Mariental of all my personal documents and that drove me insane."
Boois' trial is scheduled to continue from 27 October.
She is being held in custody.
State advocate Emma Mayavero is prosecuting.
