Staff Reporter
DENZIL Dawids, a Gobabis resident, has been found guilty of murder after he fatally injured a woman, identified as Yolande McCallum, after ramming into a stationary vehicle on the night of October 2023.
McCallum was fatally struck as she jumped in front of the oncoming bakkie to push her son out of the way.
It is alleged that Dawids followed McCallum’s son to a house following a fight between them earlier on Saturday evening at a bar.
It is alleged that the Dawids arrived at Kasi Classic Bar (Kasi) and performed a stand-still (where a vehicle’s rear wheels spin while stationary). When one of the victims, Caden Snyders, confronted the Dawids asking him to stop, Dawids slapped Caden twice, and in turn, a certain Alberto Eiseb hit Dawids with a bottle. As they drove away, the accused Dawids allegedly hit their vehicle (the BMW) with a bottle.
Caden and his friends drove to a certain Bolla’s house. While there, a vehicle driven by the accused later approached at high speed and collided with their BMW. The impact knocked Caden unconscious and threw him from the vehicle. When he regained consciousness, he observed the deceased, Yolande McCallum, lying in a pool of blood.
Upon this, it is alleged that Dawids exited his vehicle and used a plastic whip (sjambok) to beat some of the victims who were with the BMW he had hit, which included Percival Alexander McCallum and Alessandro Ketiametsi van Rooyen, as well as Caden Snyders.
When Dawids was confronted by Percival’s grandfather about what he had done, the accused allegedly said he ‘did not care whom he bumped’ before disappearing.
Acting High Court Judge, Makapa Simasiku, in his judgment said that after considering the totality of the evidence, the court found that the State had proven beyond reasonable doubt that Dawids unlawfully and intentionally caused the death of the deceased, Yolande McCallum, attempted to kill Percival and Alessandro, and that he unlawfully and intentionally assaulted the complainants, and intentionally damaged the BMW by hitting it with a bottle at Kasi Classic without lawful excuse.
The judge further said that Dawids’ single-handed version of being suddenly attacked with stones and losing control, as well as his denials of assaulting the complainants, was found to be improbable and false beyond doubt, and therefore rejected.
He thus found Dawids guilty of murder (dolus eventualis), guilty on counts of assault to cause grievous bodily harm as well as common assault. He was also found guilty of malicious damage to property while being acquitted of reckless and/or negligent driving. The judge said that the accused’s driving is inextricably linked to intent to harm the victims or deceased. “Given this connection, convicting him on reckless or negligent driving and murder or attempted murder would constitute impermissible duplication of convictions, as the same evidence is used to prove all offences, and the act constitutes a single transaction,” Simasiku said.
