Roland Routh

WINDHOEK - The mother of a four-year old boy killed in a fit of rage by a man she misled to believe it was his own blood testified the relationship between the two had been “loving” before he found out through the rumour mill the child was sired by another man.

The woman, Stella Fatima Simbo, 33, told Judge Nate Ndauendapo in the Windhoek High Court that she had no qualms about leaving her son, Athanosius Katholo Reeves Simbo, with Simon Muno Reeves Dawid, 46, when she decided to break off her relationship with the accused.

According to her, before Dawid heard the rumours about him not being the biological father of the boy, he was very attentive to the boy and the boy loved his “father” very much.

The state alleges Dawid killed the boy who was four years old at the time of his demise in a fit of rage, after he discovered he was not the biological father of the boy. 

According to Stella, the accused called her the day before the death of the boy and asked her to visit him as he missed the “mother of his child.”

When she arrived at his residence, Stella said, the accused bought her two beers and while she was consuming the beverage, he asked her about the rumours that the boy was not his. 

“I then told him that the boy was his and if he does not believe me, he can do blood tests,” she told the judge. She further said Dawid told her he was just waiting until the boy turned five the he would then have the tests done. Stella further told the judge that Dawid was angry when he accosted her about the rumours saying “I’m tired, I’m tired of these people saying it’s not my child.” When she asked him who the people are that said the boy is not his, he told her its people at the Big Shops and when she wanted to go and confront those people and report them to the police, he said he will just wait until the child is five years old then he will have blood tests done and if the child is not his she will have to refund him for every cent he spent on the boy, the witness informed the court.

She further told the judge it was the first time that he raised the issue of paternity with her.

According to the indictment, the mother of the boy and the accused were in a romantic relationship at the time of the boy’s birth on August 20, 2010 and the mother had informed him it was his child.

During 2012 the relationship between the mother of the boy and the accused ended and the boy remained in the custody of the accused, who cared for him as a father and he shared a residence with the boy, who was financially dependent on the accused.

But, according to the indictment, the accused became worried about rumours that he was not the boy’s biological father and on July 07, 2015 after a visit with friends, he locked himself and the boy in his residence in Katutura and proceeded to hit and throw the boy on the ground and against the wall of his residence, killing him due to blunt force trauma to the head. Subsequent DNA tests confirmed the boy was not the biological son of the accused. The trial continue on Tuesday and Dawid is out on a warning. The state is represented by Advocate Erich Moyo and Dawid by Mbanga Syomunji on instructions of Legal Aid.