By Petronella Sibeene
WINDHOEK
A Namibian student, Petrus Haitula, was sentenced to life imprisonment in Zimbabwe yesterday.
Haitula was arrested in Zimbabwe in August 2005 for murdering a fellow Namibian student over a piece of roasted meat.
He appeared before Mutare Judge Mary Bowora yesterday on a charge of murder, and was jailed for life.
Two years ago, Haitula fatally shot Jason Amaambo Kaherero at close range, and also shot and injured Jeremiah Apeopange in the wrist in the ensuing fracas – all over a piece of meat.
Joel Amaambo, father of the deceased, expressed satisfaction with the sentence.
During his first appearance in court before Mutare magistrate Fabian Feshete in 2005, Haitula answered to lesser charges of violating the Firearms Act and the Customs and Excise Act.
Haitula, now a former student of Mutare Teachers’ College, is an ex-member of the Namibian Defence Force (NDF) who smuggled a Burgo revolver with eight bullets into Zimbabwe, thereby violating both the Firearms and the Customs and Excise Acts in the process.
At the time of the murder, Haitula was 22 years old and in his second year at the college in Zimbabwe. According to a New Era source, it is unlikely that he will be transferred to Namibia as he is being punished under Zimbabwean law.
A year ago, the Ministry of Safety and Security envisaged a Transfer of Convicted Offenders programme, which was supposed to be carried out with the help of the Ministry of Justice. Once this materializes, Namibians in foreign prisons could be transferred to their home country to serve their sentences and be rehabilitated in the available centres.