Mariental man admits shooting, denies murder

A MARIENTAL resident claimed in the Windhoek High Court yesterday that the fatal shooting of a woman at the Hardap region town near the end of 2017 had been an accident.

With his trial starting before judge Christie Liebenberg, Mario Mensah (39) denied guilt on charges of murder, theft, pointing of a firearm and attempted murder, but pleaded guilty to counts of assault with intent to do grievous bodily harm, possession of a firearm and ammunition without a licence, negligent discharge of a firearm and discharging a firearm in a public place.

All of the charges are linked to events that took place at Mariental during the early morning hours of 23 December 2017.

The state is alleging that Mensah used a stolen 9mm pistol to fire several shots; that he pointed the gun at three people; tried to kill a young man, Angelo Amamub, by firing a shot at him; assaulted another man, Bennedin Adams, by hitting him on the head with a bottle; and that he finally murdered a woman, Christina Martha Adams, by shooting her in the head.

In a plea explanation given to the court, Mensah said he was struggling with depression and drug addiction at the time of the incidents over which he has been charged. He added that he had been binging on drugs during the week before the incidents, which he said took place after he had found a pistol, which he picked up and took, at a nightclub owned by his father.

Mensah related that he had an altercation with someone who wanted a cigarette from him after he had left the nightclub, and that he then fired a warning shot in the air.

After that, he was socialising with other people when he received a phone call from his girlfriend, who informed him she was ending their relationship, and he reacted to that news by taking the pistol and firing off two shots into the air, “to blow off some steam”, he stated.

Mensah continued that he later joined Bennedin Adams, whom he had found sitting at a fire, and shared some Jack Daniel's whiskey with him. After noticing that the contents of his bottle seemed to have dropped in his absence, he got angry at Adams and hit him with the bottle, he said. Adams was knocked out, Mensah recounted.

According to Mensah, people living at the same premises – including Christina Adams – emerged from their homes and attacked him, and he again wanted to fire a warning shot in the air when a shot went off by accident and Adams was struck in the head.

“It was an unfortunate, tragic accident,” he claimed.

He went home with his bottle of Jack Daniel's, fell asleep and later woke up in a police cell, Mensah said.

The trial is continuing.

Mensah is being represented by defence lawyer Ileni Gebhardt. State advocate Cliff Lutibezi is prosecuting.