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Man guilty of killing partner pregnant with twins


THE domestic partner of a young woman whose life was cut short when she was killed at Rehoboth nearly 10 years ago, while she was pregnant with twins, has finally been convicted on a charge of murder.

When Deon Boois (32) stabbed his girlfriend, Barbara Ganses (18), twice in the chest with a knife and inflicted fatal injuries to her heart and right lung, he wanted her dead, judge Naomi Shivute concluded in the judgement that she delivered in Boois’ trial in the Windhoek High Court yesterday.

“Therefore, he acted with a direct intent to kill,” Shivute remarked, before announcing to Boois that he has been found guilty of murder.

Ganses was found stabbed to death at Rehoboth during the evening of 9 December 2012.

She was found lying dead on the floor of the room where she and Boois lived together at his mother’s house.

Ganses and Boois were involved in a romantic relationship at the time of her death. They were the parents of a boy, then aged two, and Ganses was about 16 weeks into a pregnancy with twins when she was killed, it was discovered during an autopsy after the incident.

During his trial, which started in July this year, Boois denied that he had killed Ganses.

He told the court he found her lying dead in their room when he returned home after he had spent the evening at a friend’s house, where they had been watching movies.

According to Boois, he took his and Ganses’ son and ran to his sister’s house, where he informed her that he had found Ganses lying on the floor and that she appeared to have been stabbed.

Testimony given by Boois’ sister and another witness, who was present at his sister’s house, contradicted Boois’ version, though.

Boois’ sister told the court that after Boois arrived at her house, he asked her to look after his son and said he no longer wanted to live.

When she asked him why he wanted her to look after his son, Boois told her he had stabbed his girlfriend and repeated that he no longer wanted to live, his sister testified.

She further recounted that Boois handed a knife to her and asked her to stab him with it.

A woman who was also present at the home of Boois’ sister told the court that she too heard him saying he had stabbed his girlfriend.

The knife that was given to Boois’ sister was stained with blood. DNA testing later showed the blood on the knife contained DNA matching Ganses’ genetic profile.

That test result could not have been a mere coincidence, Shivute remarked in her judgement.

The judge also said Boois’ sister and the other witness at her house had no reason to falsely implicate Boois. It was highly improbable that Boois’ sister would have falsely claimed he handed a knife to her and that DNA matching Ganses’ would subsequently be found on the knife, Shivute added.

The judge concluded that the two witnesses who told the court about Boois’ oral admission were credible and trustworthy, and Boois’ denials could not reasonably possibly be true.

Boois was free until the delivery of the judgement, but should now be held in custody, before he has to return to court for a presentence hearing on Monday next week, Shivute directed.

State advocate Taodago Gaweseb is prosecuting.

Boois is being represented by defence lawyer Joseph Andreas.





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