WINDHOEK – A naked man who was left to burn to ashes along the Gammams riverbed behind Single Quarters on Sunday afternoon allegedly disclosed his friend’s name to a nurse when he was asked who committed the heinous crime.
Khomasdal resident Jaco Hendricks, 36, told the nurse that his two friends set him alight following an argument over drugs, a grief-stricken family member who preferred anonymity told New Era when this reporter visited the family home yesterday morning.
Although Hendricks, who sustained third degree burn
wounds, incoherently mispronounced one of the friend’s first name, he was spot on with the surname, his family said.
The suspects’ names cannot be published before they appear in court. The family said 95 percent of the victim’s manhood was burnt. Only his feet did not suffer the wrath of fire.
Similarly, a guard whom the family knows from the Single Quarters area, informed the Hendricks family that he saw the deceased with two men who looked alike and one of whom had a bandaged arm.
The description of the two men matched those of Hendricks’ childhood friends, having attended the same primary school and played soccer together. Hendricks and the two suspects saw each other every day, his family said.
The two men, who are denying links to the heinous crime, were arrested on Monday morning. They are denying that they were with Hendricks on Sunday.
Khomas Regional Police Crime Investigation Coordinator, Deputy Commissioner Abner Agas confirmed that two men were arrested and will possibly appear in the Katutura Magistrate’s Court today.
Hendricks’ relatives do not want the men to be granted bail as his family and friends may take revenge. They also oppose bail because of the seriousness of the crime they are accused of.
According to a police report issued by Chief Inspector Kauna Shikwambi, Hendricks’ naked body was found by passers-by who were walking in the riverbed and, after the horror discovery, alerted the police. Emergency services rushed Hendricks to Katutura state hospital but he succumbed to his injuries. The incident is suspected to have happened between 13h00 and 16h00 on Sunday.
The family assumed Hendricks rolled from the actual crime scene to the riverbed’s water to cool his wounds. A container, whisky sachets, matches and drips of his burnt trousers were discovered at the scene.