Kharas knife killer gets life prison term

A Kharas resident convicted of having murdered his 19-year-old girlfriend at Aroab three years ago received a sentence of life imprisonment at the end of his trial in the Windhoek High Court on Friday.

Judge Alfred Siboleka sentenced Rodney Ricardo Rooi (30) to life imprisonment on a charge of murder, read with the provisions of the Combating of Domestic Violence Act, and to a jail term of six months on a count of attempting to defeat the course of justice.

Rooi was convicted on the two charges in November last year, when judge Siboleka found that it had been proven that he murdered his girlfriend, Brigitta Smith (19), at Aroab during the night of 25 to 26 February 2017. Smith was stabbed eight times with a knife, and died as a result of a stab injury to her heart and acute blood loss.

Rooi and Smith had been involved in a relationship for more than seven years, and were the parents of a boy who was 17 months old when his mother was killed, the judge recounted during the sentencing.

Smith's life was ended merely because she refused to go with Rooi to his house on the evening she was killed, judge Siboleka remarked.

Rooi had shown “a blatant disregard for other people's lives”, and the court was legally bound to tackle such conduct with an iron fist, the judge also said.