Petrus (33) will have to serve the jail term Judge Alfred Siboleka imposed on him five months ago, after a petition to the Supreme Court in which he asked to be allowed to appeal to that court was refused by a bench of three judges.
The decision of Chief Justice Peter Shivute and Judges of Appeal Gerhard Maritz and Sylvester Mainga not to give Petrus leave to appeal to the Supreme Court means the last avenue for an appeal open to Petrus has been closed.
Judge Siboleka sentenced Petrus to an effective 50 years' imprisonment - the result of a 45-year prison term for murder and a five-years jail term for kidnapping, with the two sentences ordered to be served consecutively - on 20 June, at the end of his trial in the Windhoek High Court.
Petrus pleaded guilty to murder, but not guilty to a charge of kidnapping, at the start of his trial on 9 June.
He admitted that he murdered his former girlfriend, Polytechnic of Namibia student Elizabeth Tuwilika Ekandjo (21), during the early morning hours of 6 June 2012 in the room where she lived in Windhoek. Petrus strangled Ekandjo with a tie after he had entered the room where she and a roommate lay sleeping.
The judge found that Petrus kidnapped Ekandjo's roommate when he ordered her to get into a wardrobe in her and Ekandjo's room. Having been locked up in the wardrobe, she was released after Petrus had strangled Ekandjo.
The roommate testified during Petrus' trial that he started to cry before he left their room, and that he told her he was sorry that he had killed her friend. He also went to the spot where Ekandjo lay on the floor, called out her name, and said he wanted to make sure she was dead, as he did not want to leave her alive.
In his own testimony Petrus told the court that Ekandjo “was the one I loved”. He said he strangled her because their relationship had come to an end.
With Petrus' sentencing Judge Siboleka warned that men who kill women for daring to say no to them should expect to be punished severely for their crime. The judge told Petrus that he wanted to send out a strong message to all men who still believed that a refusal from a woman was something that was punishable by death. The message that had to go out to would-be offenders was that women had the right to say no, Judge Siboleka said.
He also remarked that although the killing of women in Namibia has been continuing at an alarming rate, despite the heavy sentences imposed on people convicted of such crimes, that would not dissuade the courts from dealing severely with men who have murdered women.
In the judgement in which he dismissed Petrus' application for leave to appeal against his sentence, Judge Siboleka added that the courts have a duty to stand firm and sufficiently punish people convicted of committing heinous crimes against women.
State advocate Ethel Ndlovu represented the prosecution during Petrus' trial and the hearing of his application for leave of appeal. Petrus was represented by defence lawyer Sisa Namandje with the hearing of the appeal application and with the petitioning of the Supreme Court.