A former police officer, Sydney Ikosa, charged with the murder of his two-year-and-six-month-old daughter, was found guilty in the Katima Mulilo Circuit High Court.

The 35-year-old Ikosa and his wife, Chuma Simekwazi, aged 38, were also facing charges of abuse and child neglect as well as assault to cause serious bodily harm under the Child Care Act.

Both Ikosa and his wife, Simekwazi, were cleared of the charge of assault, as the court was not convinced that the state proved the charge beyond a reasonable doubt.

Ikosa was, however, found guilty of common assault for assaulting his daughter with a stick on various occasions.

The couple was both found guilty of abusing and neglecting their daughter.

Simekwazi was the stepmother of the deceased child, Joy Ikosa, who died at the Katima Mulilo Mulilo State Hospital in 2020 following head injuries she sustained at the hands of her father.

Delivering his judgement, High Court Judge President Petrus Damaseb explained that the couple failed to change or increase the diet for the little girl after the nurse who attended to her had diagnosed the toddler with malnutrition.

He further explained that the postmortem report also revealed that the child was malnourished, collaborating with evidence from state witnesses who testified that the child's skin was wrinkled and looked hungry most of the time.

Sentencing for both accused was reserved for September 20 of this year.

Bail for both accused was withdrawn, and accused one, the father of late Joy, was remanded in custody while his wife was only warned to return to court for sentencing.

The biological mother of the deceased Joy Ikosa told the court in mitigation that she did not receive any apology from the father of her late daughter.

The emotional mother said she received a call from the father of his daughter in February 2020 at the correctional service in Rundu, where she was serving a sentence, telling her to fetch the child from him.

She said he warned her that if she did not take the child, he would kill her or throw her into the Zambezi River.

Asked whether she was taken to the grave of her daughter after her release, Joy said she does not know where the child has been buried up until now because Ikosa never took her there despite them having met in town.