Violent Walvis Bay man found guilty in High Court

WINDHOEK, SEPT. 6 – A Walvis Bay resident who committed a series of violent acts against three women in 2013 before strangling his girlfriend to death in March the following year, has been found guilty as charged today.

Thirty-two year-old Petrus ‘Piet’ Nakanene was today found guilty in a judgement handed down by Judge Dinah Usiku at the High Court building located on the premises of the Windhoek Central Correctional Facility.

Nakanene raped and murdered his girlfriend Bernadine Letetia Baumgarten, 29, by strangling her to death in March 2014. He then took her body to a dump-site in the dunes in a wheeled rubbish bin.

The string of violent acts relate to the rape and attempted murder of three women at Walvis Bay between April 2013 and October 2013.

Nakanene was found guilty on a count of murder, two counts of attempted murder, two charges of housebreaking with intent to rape and rape, two charges of attempted rape and the last count of defeating or obstructing the course of justice.

He pleaded not guilty on all counts at the start of the trial last year.
Evidence presented during the trial had it that Nakanene, during the early morning hours of 06 April 2013, kicked open the door to the room of a woman living in Kuisebmond, entered the room and raped her.
He also tried to kill the victim by strangling her.

On 15 September of the same year, Nakanene entered the room of the second woman, strangled her and attempted to rape her.

On 15 October 2013, he followed a third woman from the place where he stayed in Kuisebmond, pushed the woman to the ground, strangled her and tried to rape her.

He raped and murdered Baumgarten on 12 March 2014 and dumped her body at a dumpsite in the dunes.
Baumgarten’s body was found the next day and tracks found at the scene led to a house in Kuisebmond where Nakanene lived in a shack.

State Advocate Innocentia Nyoni is representing the prosecution, while Government-funded defence lawyer Mpokiseng Dube is defending Nakanene.
He returns to the High Court on 30 October 2018 for the presentation of the pre-sentencing evidence. – NAMPA