‘Gay ghosts’ defence fails in Keetmans murder trial

A claim by a Keetmanshoop resident who said he tried to defend himself against a homosexual person in his sleep, only to realise he had fatally stabbed his girlfriend, has failed to convince a High Court judge to acquit the man of murder.

In a judgement delivered in the High Court at Windhoek Correctional Facility on Friday, judge Dinnah Usiku found murder accused Johannes Claasen (39) guilty on charges of murder, attempted murder and assault with intent to do grievous bodily harm.

Usiku said in her view, the testimony of an eyewitness who saw Claasen stabbing his baby daughter would carry more weight than the opinion of a psychiatrist who told the court Claasen had a condition known as “rapid eye movement sleep disorder with automatism” when he carried out the stabbing.

The psychiatrist concluded that Claasen could not be held accountable for his alleged actions.

However, a team of mental healthcare professionals, including another psychiatrist, concluded after a period of psychiatric observation that Claasen was fit to stand trial and could be held criminally liable.

Claasen was accused of stabbing his then girlfriend, Rolinda Lamberth (28), in the chest with a large knife in the shack room where they lived together at Keetmanshoop during the early morning hours of 25 December 2020.

The 11-month-old daughter of Lamberth and Claasen was also stabbed during the same incident. She survived the stabbing.

Claasen told the police after the stabbing, and also testified this during his trial, that while sleeping he found himself lying on the bed between two gay men, and one of the men wanted to have intercourse with him.

Claasen said he tried to ward off the man, and when he came to his senses he found himself holding a knife and realised he had stabbed Lamberth.

At the same time, he found that the two gay men he had seen on the bed next to himself had disappeared, Claasen recounted.

An older daughter of Lamberth, who was seven years old when her mother was killed, was one of the state’s witnesses during Claasen’s trial.

She told the court that when she was about to lie down to sleep on the night her mother was killed, she saw Claasen lifting up the mattress of the bed where he and Lamberth slept and taking out a knife, which he placed under a pillow.

She did not see Claasen stabbing her mother, but heard a sound and then saw him stabbing his and Lamberth’s baby daughter, the girl said.

She also testified that on another occasion she witnessed Claasen assaulting her mother, leaving her with a swollen eye, and that she had also seen him chasing her mother with a knife on a different occasion.

Usiku said it was clear that Claasen and Lamberth had a turbulent relationship that was marred by physical assaults and threats of assaults, as testified by three witnesses.

Claasen had a distrust in Lamberth due to her prior relationship with the father of her older daughter, Usiku said.

Claasen, who is represented by legal aid lawyer Meriam Kandoni, is due to return to court for a presentence hearing on 21 October.

Deputy prosecutor general Maria Shilongo is representing the state.

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