By Anna Shilongo
WINDHOEK
The body of a young man, believed to be in his late twenties, was found buried under goat’s dung some few kilometres between Schlip and Klein Aub last week Thursday.
The deceased was a casual worker at Linshof Farm 696, which belongs to the January family.
He was dressed in a red tracksuit and yellow underwear. According to a doctor at the scene, the deceased had unfamiliar marks on his body, suspected to have been inflicted through blunt trauma.
Petrus Nehemiah, 26, a new employee at the farm, discovered the remains while he was cleaning the goat kraal. The head of the deceased, including the brains, eyes and ears, was missing. All that were was the rest of the body and some bones of the head.
According to the farm owner, the deceased came to the farm on the third of this month and was supposed to help out until the 9th, but he went “missing” three days later.
“We then decided to bring in the second person to come and help as he was nowhere to be found and we thought he probably left.”
The farm owner, while being questioned by the police, said this was not the first time a worker had gone “missing” at the farm. According to him, there was another worker who went missing and was replaced by the deceased.
When the deceased went missing he was replaced by Nehemiah.
New Era was unable to get the name of the deceased. The farmer and his son Marios January kept guessing the real name of the deceased, at times suggesting he was Petrus, Julius, Silas, Mateus, without arriving at the correct name, prompting all present to wonder how he could have been employed without a name.
Further, New Era was advised to go question a certain businessman, Henry, from Klein Aub who allegedly supplied them with the worker. However, New Era failed to locate the businessman.
With his hands clutched in front as if in preparation for prayer, a nervous-looking Nehemiah stood in the shade facing the goat dung where he found the body. His clothes were dirty and torn. They had lost colour probably due to constant use without washing, while his feet were dirty. His skin was wrinkled and cracked, making him look older than his age.
Nehemiah is no longer interested in staying at the farm. He preferred to go back to Rehoboth to look for another job, he said, adding that what he saw was too shocking.
“I don’t want to work at a farm where people go missing. That memory will keep haunting me forever. I am sorry, I have to go.”
Farm workers are reportedly some of the most exploited workers in the country. Nehemiah said he was not aware, when he started work at the farm, that he was replacing a worker that had gone “missing”, until when he was clearing the goats’ kraal and saw a half-buried body with the head being eaten by a dog.
“I couldn’t believe it. I quickly ran next door to some workers that were fixing the dam to come help me out. They called the owner of the farm as he was not around. I slept all alone at that farm waiting for the owners to come but they only arrived the next morning,” he narrated.
When New Era arrived at the scene, the police were hard at work to find the cause of the death. They were also hoping to find the first person that went missing at the farm.
During the investigation the owner of the farm left claiming that he was going to fetch his goats elsewhere.
Mario January said he was shocked to hear that there was a dead person half buried on their farm.
“I can’t believe this, this is definitely a murder.”
He also expressed disappointment with the police, adding that they are never on time when called for incidents happening in the surroundings. January is appealing to the government to provide them with a police station nearby.
The nearest police station from Linshof Farm is about 130 km from Rehoboth, on a gravel road. The deceased was brought to Windhoek Friday.
Police investigations continue.
New Era also took the opportunity to visit the living quarters of Nehemiah. There was a single blanket in his room.