The man who fatally injured his pregnant girlfriend when he stabbed her with a knife more than five years ago is found guilty of murder and beating or obstructing the path of justice after he went to trial at Windhook High Court.
Judge Dina Ushik convicted the man, 24, in a sentence held Friday.
The nation claimed that Marsdorp had killed his then girlfriend Magdavan Wyke (26), stabbing her in Gobavis’ chest on the night of August 2-3, 2019.
Van Wyke passed away on August 13, 2019 at Windhoek’s hospital.
At Maasdorp’s trial, Usiku was said to have revealed that postmortem examination revealed that Van Wyk had a small penetrating stab wound in her heart.
The bleeding proved fatal 10 days after the injury.
The court also heard that Van Wyke visited Gobavis’ clinic the day after the stab wound. The injury to her left chest was considered superficial at that stage, and the wound was sewn.
Van Wyke returned to the clinic five days later, complaining of chest and abdominal pain, and then showed that she was pregnant, the court heard.
She was referred to Gobavis’ hospital, where she was admitted upon arrival.
Van Wyke was being treated for an ectopic pregnancy before her death, but at that stage the cause of her death was not clear.
At Maasdorp’s trial, one of the state witnesses testified that when Maasdorp, who appears to be under the influence of alcohol, approached Van Wyk and asked him to go home with him, he was with Van Wyk at a bar in Gobabis.
Maasdorp and Van Wyk lived together at the time.
Witnesses say Van Wyke refused to go home with Marsdorp and he pulled out a knife and stabbed Van Wyke with his chest.
Van Wyke did not report the incident to police.
One state witness advised Van Wyke to report the matter to police, but she refused. Van Wyke also told the witness that he could not explain why Marsdorp stabbed her because he feared that she would be killed by him, Ushik said at her discretion.
According to Maasdorp, he spots Van Wyk at a bar in Gobabis and realizes that she is not visible.
He said that when she tried to stop the fight between people at the bar, she said she was stabbed by an unknown person.
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Maasdorp also said that Van Wyk said she was fine and didn’t want to go to the clinic at the time.
Usiku rejected the Maasdorp version as “evidently false” about stabbing.
The judge said that Maasdorp “really went down the stab wound of (Van Wyk) and claimed it was theirs, claiming it was not anyone’s business.”
Ushik concluded that this indicated the nature of the weapon used by Marsdorp and the part of her body that Van Wik was stabbed, as well as the intent of Marsdorp acting with the intention of killing Van Wik.
He was also found guilty of defeating or obstructing the course of justice by removing the knife that Van Wyke had been stabbed.
Maasdorp will need to return to court on June 6 for a hearing of the announcement.
State supporter Basson Lirungwe represents the prosecutor.
Maasdorp is represented by defense attorney Mbanga Siyomunji.
