The sentencing of a former police officer charged with the murder of his daughter has been postponed to Friday after mitigation arguments were heard in the Katima Mulilo Circuit High Court in the Zambezi Region.
37-year-old Sydney Ikosa was found guilty of murder, negligence, and deliberate abuse of his daughter, as well as common assault under the Domestic Violence Act, by Judge President Petrus Damaseb at the end of last month (August).
Ikosa's former wife, 38-year-old Chuma Simakwezi, was found guilty of abuse and deliberate negligence of her two-year-old stepdaughter.
In mitigation, Ikosa pleaded with the court to be lenient in sentencing him because he is the father of three children, whom he is taking care of.
His lawyer, Petrine Hango, pleaded for a 19-year imprisonment for murder while proposing a fine for assault, negligence, and abuse of the child, as well as a common assault that she asked to run concurrently with the murder sentence.
Simakwezi, the stepmother of the deceased toddler, Joy Ikosa, asked the court to be lenient in sentencing her because she has a medical condition and is seven months pregnant.
Ikosa and Simakwezi have three children together.
Advocate Johan Pienaar for the State demanded a twenty-year imprisonment for murder and five years for negligence and abuse of the child to run concurrently with the murder conviction.
Pienaar asked the court to sentence Simakwezi to a fine of N$20,000 or five years imprisonment.
Judge President Petrus Damaseb is concerned that if both parents are sent to prison, the three children's well-being will be affected; hence, all other options need to be exhausted to strike a balance between the crime committed, the public interest, and the accused's personal circumstances.
Little Joy died on June 13, 2020, at the Katima Mulilo State Hospital following head injuries she sustained at the hands of her father after he assaulted her.
Joy's stepmother, Chima Simakwezi, abandoned washing her and her clothes, leaving the responsibility to the father, who was a police officer then, to perform such responsibilities when he knocked off from work.
The neighbours witnessed how the child was neglected and abused by her parents and was diagnosed with malnutrition in March 2020, but despite the advice from the health officials for her diet to be increased, nothing was done, resulting in the postmortem report also indicating that she was malnourished.