WINDHOEK - Two witnesses yesterday testified that a worker on Farm Houmoed between Mariental and Kalkrand, accused of killing his wife of about 20 years, did so because she was unfaithful to him and bore another man’s child.

The daughter of Andrew Hermanus Johannes Scott, 54, who was the first to testify, told the court that the issue of her brother always came up during her parents’ fights.
Mariska Scott, 20, however told the court that Scott accepted the boy as his own and treated him as his own child.

Scott is in the accused dock for allegedly killing Anna Scott during the period 2 to 3 August 2017 at Farm Houmoed.

He is further charged with defeating or obstructing or attempting to defeat or obstruct the course of justice when he allegedly concealed the dead body of Anna Scott in a room at his residence. He allegedly hid the body under a blanket during the period of 2 to 4 August 2017.

Scott denied guilt on all charges when his trial started on Monday, and his legal aid lawyer Mbanga Siyomunji told the court the plea was in accordance with his instructions and that his client will make use of the right to silence and put the proof of all allegations on the state.

According to the indictment, Scott killed the deceased during the late-night hours of  2 August 2017 or early morning hours of 3 August 2017 by kicking her and strangling her; she died at the scene due to the attack on her, and that he concealed the body in his residence.

The body was discovered on 4 August by family members of the accused, after he informed them of his plan to commit suicide. The investigating officer in the matter Detective Sergeant Marvelan Losper told the court that he and Detective Sergeant Joseph Isaack were sent out to the scene to assist the Kalkrand police under whose jurisdiction the matter fell. They said they interviewed Scott, who at that stage was still a suspect.

He indicated that they informed Scott of his right to remain silent and his right to legal representation at the Kalkrand Police Station, but that he preferred to inform them as to what happened. According to Losper, the accused told them he and his wife had an argument over her infidelity.

Scott told them he wanted to know from the deceased why she had the affair, who answered she could do whatever she wanted with her body. This response enraged Scott, who then grabbed the deceased by her ankles and stomped on her private parts, the detective said, Scott told him. He went on to say that Scott informed them that the next morning he saw that deceased was breathing faintly and that she was in pain.
He then attended to her and laid her down on the bed from the floor she slept on the previous night and went to work, Scott told the officers.

When he returned from work that afternoon, he found that his wife had passed on, Scott told the policemen, and that he apparently did not sleep that night but sat outside the whole night. The next morning, he decided to end his life, but before he could, family members arrived and stopped him, as he had sent the text messages about his suicide plan, Losper said Scott told him.

The matter is being heard by Windhoek High Court Judge Naomi Shivute and state advocate Marthino Olivier is prosecuting.

The matter continues today, and Scott remains in custody at the Windhoek Correctional Facility’s section for trial awaiting inmates.