An unknown assailant who struck at night was responsible for a fatal assault on a teenage girl in the Gibeon area in May 2021, a murder accused claimed during his trial in the Windhoek High Court this week.
In testimony heard on Monday, Tuesday and yesterday, Isak Blockstaan (31) told judge Eileen Rakow he and his then girlfriend, Hannalie Swartbooi (15), were suddenly attacked by an unknown person or persons while they were on their way to their home at a farm in the Gibeon area during the night of 2 to 3 May 2021.
Blockstaan said he was struck from behind while he and Swartbooi were walking home from a farm where they had attended a birthday party, and he lost consciousness after two blows to the back of his head and the side of his neck.
He said when he regained consciousness, he saw Swartbooi lying next to him on the ground.
There was blood on her face, Blockstaan said.
He said he asked her what had happened, but she did not respond.
When he lifted her up from the ground, he found a piece of square metal tubing lying under her, Blockstaan said. He picked it up and took it along with him for protection when he carried Swartbooi from the scene of the attack, he told the court.
On the way from the scene to his and Swartbooi’s home, they were found by her parents, who had also attended the birthday party from where he and Swartbooi were coming, Blockstaan said.
Swartbooi’s father helped him to get Swartbooi home, where her mother cleaned the blood off her before she was put on a bed.
He discovered the next morning that Swartbooi had died during the night, Blockstaan said.
Blockstaan denied guilt on a charge of murder, read with the provisions of the Combating of Domestic Violence Act, and counts of rape, assault and defeating or obstructing the course of justice when his trial began last August.
The state is alleging that Blockstaan became angry with Swartbooi and slapped her after she refused to sit next to him at the birthday party that they attended.
It is also alleged that Blockstaan slapped Swartbooi’s mother as well when she tried to come to the assistance of her daughter.
The state is further alleging that Blockstaan assaulted Swartbooi while they were on their way home from the birthday party, and that he committed a sexual act with her under coercive circumstances.
Swartbooi died as a result of a head injury caused by the assault on her.
In his testimony, Blockstaan denied that he had intercourse with Swartbooi during the night she was fatally assaulted.
Asked by Rakow why some unknown person would have attacked him and Swartbooi at night, Blockstaan said yesterday: “I don’t know the reason why. But we can be attacked at night.”
He also claimed the police did not investigate Swartbooi’s death properly, and said if they had carried out a proper investigation the reason for the alleged attack on him and Swartbooi could have been known now.
With Blockstaan’s testimony concluded yesterday, Rakow postponed his case to 12 November for the hearing of closing arguments in the matter.
Deputy prosecutor general Karin Esterhuizen is representing the state.
Blockstaan, who is being held in custody, is represented by legal aid lawyer Rennie Strauss.
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