OSHAKATI – A sombre atmosphere filled the Oshakati Magistrate’s Court yesterday when 30-year-old Alfred Thomas, also known as Kabila, confessed during his first court appearance – without being questioned, that he killed his 83-year-old grandmother, Selma Ndalipo Shilunga. 

Thomas appeared in court following the incident, which occurred on Friday at Ondiamande village in the Oshana region. 

He was denied bail and the case was postponed to 6 October for further police investigations. 

“I want to say that I am the one who killed her and I am guilty of what I have done. There is no need for investigation,” Thomas told the court. His words left family members emotional, with some crying while others could not look at him in the courtroom. 

One of the deceased’s cousins, Tayela Neema, said the family still does not know what caused the incident. “This boy has been misbehaving. He was involved in forex trading and whenever he did not have money, he would steal from home. That is why he was kept away from the homestead,” he said. 

Thomas allegedly told some people that he killed his grandmother because she “angered him”. 

 “The story that his uncle owed him money, I cannot really comment on because we also only heard about it after the incident,” Neema added. 

According to police, Thomas allegedly broke a bedroom window to gain entry into his grandmother’s room, where he attacked her with an unknown object, causing multiple injuries. 

The deceased was sleeping in the room with her young grandson at the time of the incident and was later found lying in a pool of blood. 

Police said the suspect allegedly took the deceased’s black Itel cellphone valued at N$300 and used it to call her son, who is his uncle living in Oshakati, telling him to “come home with the police”. 

The suspect allegedly fled with the cellphone before he was arrested at a bar in Oluno. 

Thomas is facing charges of murder, housebreaking and theft, while police investigations continue.