‘I shot her twice in the head’Man confesses to wife’s murder A husband’s jealousy led to the murder of a teacher in the Oshana Region in June last year, the Oshakati High Court heard yesterday. KENYA KAMBOWEJohannes Shipanga (59) yesterday admitted in the Oshakati High Court on Tuesday that he had shot his wife at Onalulago village in Oshana Region on 17 June last year before burning her body beyond recognition in a car.
Shipanga said he and his wife, 51-year-old Justina Shipanga, went to deliver a document somewhere but just metres from their home they ended up in an argument which led to her death.
The couple had four children together, the eldest being 26 and the youngest 18 years old.
Shipanga told the court during cross examination that while seated in the car he asked his wife when she would return home. Her response angered him so that he shot her.
“I asked her when will she return home and she told me I don’t have the right to ask her that nor I will never have the right to ask her anything… it then made me do Satan things, what I was not supposed to do,” a tearful Shipanga said.
Shipanga said he shot her twice in the head. After the first shot she fell into his lap, and he pulled the trigger once more.
He said he then set the car on fire and her body was burned beyond recognition. Then he went to the nearest police station and handed himself over.
“I am guilty, I am guilty on the face of God and the government, I am guilty. I was not supposed to do what I have done, I put my children in a mess as well as both families,” he told the court.
Jealousy and money issues
During Shipanga’s testimony in mitigation of sentencing, he said their 26-year marriage started falling apart after he lost his job in 2009 and there were rumours that his wife was having an affair with a man he identified as Joseph Iyambo.
Shipanga told the court that his wife no longer wanted to share her income with him after he lost his job as an insurance sales agent. She was a teacher at Onalulago Combined School.
“My wife stopped me from using the ATM card, stopped showing me her payslip and on pay day she would come back empty handed with no groceries,” Shipanga told the court.
Under cross-examination Shipanga said he was not dependent on his wife for money because he other ways of earning an income, but when they got married in 1988 they had both committed to sharing their income to feed their family.
Regarding the alleged affair, Shipanga admitted that he had no proof of it and had heard of it from a teacher at Onguma school, where Iyambo was working.
The prosecutor said in his closing argument that the deceased no longer wanted to be in a relationship with Shipanga, based on the last conversation between the two before the murder. He suggested a jail term of 40 to 45 years.
Shipanga’s lawyer asked for an 18-year term, saying that Shipanga had shown remorse, surrendered and confessed to the police, pleaded guilty in court and asked forgiveness from his children and the deceased’s family.
Judge Marlene Commasi postponed the case to 24 November for sentencing. Shipanga remains in custody.