Teacher sentenced to 25 years for killing wife

A teacher convicted of murdering his wife in a knife attack in their home in Windhoek seven years ago received a prison term of 25 years at the end of his trial in the Windhoek High Court yesterday.

Acting judge Herman January sentenced Patric Gaingob (45) to 25 years’ imprisonment on a charge of murder, read with the provisions of the Combating of Domestic Violence Act, and to a jail term of 12 months on counts of assault with intent to do grievous bodily harm and assault.

The sentence on the two assault charges was ordered to be served concurrently with the prison term on the murder charge.

Gaingob was convicted on the three charges near the end of May this year.

January rejected Gaingob’s claim that he had no recollection of the stabbing that led to the death of his wife, fellow teacher Merenta Gaingos (38), during the night of 12 to 13 April 2019, and that he was acting in a state of automatism and amnesia during the stabbing.