Life imprisonment for student pastor killer

WINDHOEK, 05 APR – Andre Fidel Dausab, who was found guilty of stabbing his student pastor girlfriend to death in 2014, was on Thursday sentenced to life imprisonment.
His sentence was handed down on Thursday.
The 37-year-old was on 25 July 2017 found guilty of a charge of murder with direct intent to kill in respect of the death of his girlfriend, Motlamme Gotaone.
Gotaone was 33 when she died at the United Lutheran Theological Seminary Paulinum Campus in Windhoek on 22 February 2014.
According to the Namibian Criminal Procedures Act of 1977 as amended, a sentence of life imprisonment equals a total period of 25 years. The convict is only eligible to apply to be released on parole when he or she completes serving the prescribed 25 years.
“The aggravating circumstances in this case were that the offence was premeditated and you killed the deceased shortly after you found out that she was no longer interested in continuing the relationship with you. You showed no remorse and never accepted the consequences of your actions during the whole trial,” Judge Naomi Shivute said while handing down the sentence.
She further said Dausab’s actions were inhumane and degrading and that society needs to be protected against people like him.
“You are a danger to society, who needs to be removed from society for a long period,” Shivute said.
The judge also informed him of his constitutional rights to appeal the sentence in the Windhoek Supreme Court within 14 days from Thursday, if he is not satisfied with the imposed punishment.
Dausab earlier wanted the court to impose a short sentence of 15 years imprisonment, claiming he was unfairly tried and convicted. He also said a direct long custodial sentence would ruin his life and chances of contributing to uplifting the living conditions of Namibians through his skills in electronic and computer technology.
He wanted the court to allow him to pay a fine of N.dollars 1.6 million for causing Gotaone’s death.
He represented himself after he fired his State-funded defence lawyer, Brownell Uirab on 30 August 2017, just before the lawyer was about to present evidence in mitigation of sentencing before court.
He claimed the lawyer did not represent him honestly and to the best of his ability.
Judge Shivute found that Dausab declared his intention to kill Gotaone a day before the incident when he sent her text messages threatening to kill her if she ended their relationship.
A post-mortem showed a broken knife was found stuck in the deceased’s back.
She suffered 27 stab wounds all over her body.
Dausab, a first-time offender with no previous criminal offences, will serve his life imprisonment at the Windhoek Central Correctional Facility.

NAMPA