Windhoek
Two sisters were left with horrific life-threatening burns after an estranged boyfriend allegedly set their shack on fire while the unsuspected siblings were sleeping peacefully in the shack early Monday morning. The incident happened at Greenwell Matongo after midnight in a shack rented by the sisters.
It is alleged the suspect poured paraffin from the doorway into the shack, set it alight and disappeared into the night.
Shockingly, the suspect showed up at the hospital and the siblings’ home after his alleged victims were admitted to hospital to visit them.
He also donated N$700 to assist the affected family with transport to the hospital.
However, the suspect who owns a barber shop in Eveline Street and several car washes outside Windhoek, was arrested on Wednesday after the victims’ family set him up by requesting him to bring their son over.
Nampol Khomas Regional Crime Investigation Coordinator, Deputy Commissioner Sylvanus Nghishidimbwa, said a case of arson has been opened and he is a suspect.
“All I know is he has been arrested,” he told New Era yesterday.
Nghishidimbwa said if the suspect is charged then he is expected to appear in court today.
According to the sisters’ relatives, the suspect dated his two-year-old son’s mother, Hilda Shekupe Thomas, 27, since 2010.
Hilda who works for a construction company shared a shack with her younger sister Aulelia Thomas, 25, who was also burnt severely in the shack.
Photos of the sisters admitted to the Intensive Care Unit seen by New Era are very graphic and cannot be published. The victims are severely burnt and cannot speak.
According to the sisters’ brother, Reinhold Amunyela who also rents at the same erf, he heard them shouting that their shack was on Friday the Monday morning.
Amunyela and the rest of the people at home woke up and broke the shack open from the back as they couldn’t open the door.
“I went inside the shack that was on fire and we tried putting out the fire. I checked on the bed and couldn’t see them. Aulelia was in the closet and crawled out saying the suspect set the shack on fire. I went in the shack again but I couldn’t see Hilda. I lifted the bed but she wasn’t there. She was under a mattress which was next to their bed,” related Amunyela.
Amunyela went back into the shack again and took their cellphones. He called the suspect on all his three cellphones but they were switched off.
“He (suspect) only called the following day claiming he heard that his estranged girlfriend and sister burnt in the shack. I told him I don’t know and wasn’t at home.”
Amunyela related that his sisters resided at the suspect’s residence in Goreangab up until end of May when the suspect chased them away. Amunyela told New Era his sister and the suspect had problems for a long time but only learnt about it three months ago. “He (suspect) also used to beat her,” added Amunyela.
Amunyela found his sisters a room to rent where he was staying. But the suspect showed up shortly thereafter and asked Hilda to return to his place as he still loved her. He alleged he only chased her out to ‘scare’ her. But Hilda refused.
“A day after he chased them he went to my sister’s work at 11:00 and waited for her to knock off. Later they came together here and he asked her to go back to his house. We reached a conclusion that he should give my sister a break. He then decided to take their son and left and I went to my room and my sister remained outside.
“I heard her screaming – he returned and started beating and kicking her. So I told him, my sister was not going anywhere because he beat her.”
The family said they are traumatised and they all sleep in one room. They are also requesting a social worker to visit them as they require counselling.