A former police officer convicted of murdering her one-year-old son in the ||Kharas region in January 2023 is due to be sentenced in the Windhoek High Court tomorrow.
Lucia Boois (37) will be sentenced on a charge of murder, read with the provisions of the Combating of Domestic Violence Act, and a count of defeating or obstructing the course of justice, on which judge Philanda Christiaan found her guilty on Tuesday.
Christiaan found that the state proved during Boois' trial that she murdered her son, Amare Boois, at a farm in the Bethanie area on 12 January 2023 and then buried his body in a shallow grave.
Amare, who was a year old, died as a result of multiple stab wounds, a doctor who examined his body recorded in a post-mortem examination report.
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He was stabbed eight times in the neck and seven times in the abdomen and back, the court was informed.
Christiaan in her judgement said at his age, Amare was "entirely defenceless".
Boois, the judge said, "armed herself with a sharp pointed object and directed repeated blows at vital parts of his small body".
Christiaan also recounted: "After the stabbing she left the child buried face down in a shallow grave in an isolated veld."
During Boois' trial, which started in August this year, the court was told a Bible was found placed on Amare's body when the grave in which he had been buried was opened.
Boois' footprints were followed from the grave and she was found lying under a tree about 9km from the scene where Amare had been buried, the court was told.
Christiaan recounted that according to a police officer, when the officer approached her, she said: "I know why you are looking for me, I killed my baby."
The police officer observed self-inflicted cuts on the inside of Boois' arms and told the court that she also said: "I sent my child to a better place."
Boois' trial started after she had been referred for psychiatric observation to determine if she was mentally fit to be tried.
After the observation period, a psychiatrist reported to the court that Boois was diagnosed with borderline personality disorder, combined with depressive symptoms, but that she was fit to stand trial, although she acted with diminished criminal responsibility, Christiaan recounted in her judgement.
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Boois, who is a former member of the Namibian Police, elected to stand trial without legal representation.
She did not cross-examine the state's witnesses during her trial and also did not testify in her own defence.
The state's witnesses included Boois' mother and brother, a caregiver at a place of safety for children where Boois had left her son shortly after his birth, and Amare's biological father and paternal grandmother, in whose care Amare had also been left by Boois.
Christiaan said the evidence given by these witnesses "portrayed the accused as emotionally unstable, obsessive in her care of the child, and prone to sudden and unpredictable mood changes".
She added: "The witnesses consistently described her as erratic, withdrawn at times yet excessively protective of the infant, and resistant to external intervention."
In a statement Boois wrote for the police after her arrest, she said: "I got tired of all these problems and decided to kill myself and my son. At least he won't suffer any more."
There was no reasonable possibility that someone other than Boois inflicted the fatal injuries on Amare, Christiaan concluded.
She noted that Amare was in Boois' custody, and she alone walked with him into an isolated area, which she later left alone.
"[Boois] confessed orally and in writing that she killed the child. No competing narrative emerges from the evidence," Christiaan said.
Boois has been held in custody since her arrest.
State advocate Emma Mayavero is representing the prosecution in the trial.
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