…RDP youth call for probe
WINDHOEK – A police medic and a team of social workers visited the female holding cells at the Wanaheda Police Station last Friday to counsel and assist the women in the cells who witnessed the incident in which a 4-year-old boy was killed by another female inmate, Deputy Commissioner Edwin Kanguatjivi said in statement released late yesterday afternoon.
The social workers also met with the mother of the deceased child and offered counselling, he added. The accused murder suspect Lovisa (Loise Kaambu), was in custody on a charge of assault. The court refused to grant her bail. A case of murder was registered under case number CR 573/01/2014 at the Wanaheda Police Station. The suspect was arraigned in court on Monday and remanded in custody.
The mother of the boy, Kaarina Mateus, was detained on two charges of shoplifting when the incident happened last week Thursday. She was arrested for shoplifting on November 22 last year at the Mr Price outlet in Town Square. She was released on police bail of N$300 and warned to be at court on November 25 at that time she falsely gave her name as Liina Shiwedha, the statement added. She however failed to appear in court on November 25, as was directed and as such the court issued a warrant for her arrest. Before the warrant could be executed she was back in the cells on November 26, arrested again for shoplifting at Jet in the Wernhill mall, when she once again changed names, this time becoming Selma Endjambi. “The police officer who charged her asked her whether she had any relatives who could take custody of the child while she is being incarcerated and she indicated that she has no one who could take care of the child,” according to the statement.
“The next day she was taken to court. Police recommended bail of N$500 on account of her having a baby, but the prosecutor noted that she was a repeat offender and had failed to appear in court on a previous occasion and as such bail was refused.”
Following the murder incident on Thursday last week, the accused ‘Selma Endjambi’ was returned to court on Friday the next day. The police explained the incident to the prosecutor and the magistrate and the accused was granted bail of N$150 on each charge. Bail was paid later that same evening and that’s when it emerged that her real name is Kaarina Mateus, because the officer this time insisted that she produce an identity document before they could release her on bail. After the verification of her identity she was released on bail. It was also during this time that it emerged that the child also has an uncle, who resides in Windhoek and who could have taken custody of the child.
Last Thursday a 4-year-old boy died in custody at the Wanaheda Police station at or about 14h00 after a fight erupted between Kaambu and Kaarina. Kaambu allegedly picked up the child of Kaarina and smashed his head on the cement floor twice. At or about 19:45pm, the station commander received a phone call to inform him that the child had died in the hospital. The incident has led to a widespread outcry across the nation, condemning the police for allowing a minor child to be detained along with its mother. Yesterday the Rally for Democracy and Progress (RDP) joined the fray. “The RDP Youth League is calling upon the police department’s women and child and protection unit to carry out a thorough investigation into this matter and want to know how the police could have committed this mistake of allowing children to be exposed to a violence-filled environment in prison. It is a well-known fact that no child deserves to be behind bars as it is not the ideal environment for a child to grow up. This in fact amounted to a disgraceful and unlawful arrest by the police and must be totally rejected. We are demanding that all those involved in this type of bureaucratic negligence should be brought to book,” read the statement by Monica Nambelela, the Secretary General of the RDP Youth League issued late yesterday afternoon.
By Tunomukwathi Asino