Windhoek
The hearing of the late ‘struggle kid’ Frieda Ndatipo, 26, continued in the High Court in Windhoek on Friday, attracting huge interest from the public who packed the inquest court to listen to proceedings.
Police sergeant Mbushe Reuben Mwinga testified that he saw a slender man fire a gun in the air, near Hakahana service station in Katutura. Mwinga said he then contacted the inspector on duty and he went home.
Lawyer Norman Tjombe, representing journalists from The Namibian newspaper who will also testify in the matter, questioned Mwinga whether he knew that it was illegal to discharge a gun in a municipal area.
“Was it not strange that you let it go?” the lawyer queried, asking why Mwinga sent a message to a commander who was not present. The police officer replied that he was concerned for his safety.
“I was scared of their violence, I was waiting for the inspector to call for reinforcements,” Mwinga said.
Mwinga said he could not identify the man as he was wearing a hat and there were people who formed part of the group of ‘struggle kids’ who stood between him and the said man.
The alleged shooter was about 70 metres from him, Mwinga testified.
The late Ndatipo, 26, was shot dead, allegedly by the police on August 27, 2014 during a scuffle between a group of ‘struggle kids’ and law-enforcement officers who were preventing the group from reaching the Swapo head offices in Leonard Auala and Hans-Dietrich Genscher streets in Katutura that fateful day.
Retired deputy prosecutor general Danie Small testified on Thursday that video footage taken from the Hakahana service station’s close circuit television (CCTV) cameras did also not show any of the ‘struggle kids’ firing a shot or shots at the police on the morning of August 27 2014, when the group passed by the fuel station.
Small further said that a total of 25 spent cartridges were found at the scene of the crime, and the majority of the spent cartridges were linked to firearms used by the police that fateful day.
A total of 16 ‘struggle kids’, three reporters from The Namibian newspaper, a camerawoman and a producer from One Africa Television and several police officers who were covering the event that day, will give evidence in the inquest being conducted in terms of the Inquests’ Act (Act No. 6 of 1993).
The inquest will continue today and runs until Friday this week. Judge Christie Liebenberg is presiding.
Advocate Dominic Lisulo is appearing for the State. Loini Ndilimeke Shikale-Ambondo represents the late Ndatipo and her three children, with another lawyer Orben Sibeya.