A man, who was convicted last year by Oshakati High Court of murdering his girlfriend by stabbing and nearly decapitating her seven years ago at his flat in Oshakati, is now suing the state for having allegedly been assaulted by correctional officers.
Ananias Ekongo Nailenge (30) is claiming N$700 000 in damages for allegedly being assaulted by eight correctional service officers while he was a trial-awaiting inmate at the Oluno Correctional Facility.
The incident allegedly occurred on 5 July 2017.
According to him, on the date in question, the correctional officers were conducting a search.
When they reached his cell, they instructed him to undress, an instruction to which he refused.
He narrated the officers started assaulting him when he refused to undress.
“I was seriously assaulted, and I was swollen to the extent that I could not even walk or stand on my own,” said Nailenge in his particulars of claim.
He is claiming that he lost his dignity at the hands of the officers, who had no right to assault him.
Nailenge is currently serving a 35-year prison sentence after he was convicted of murder read with the provisions of the Combating of Domestic Violence Act.
Nailenge was convicted for murdering Mirjam Nandjato, who died on 4 February 2014.
Nandjato’s lifeless body was found at Nailenge’s flat in Oshakati West, with a stab wound to her abdomen, and her neck slit, with her head connected to her body only by a piece of skin.
During the trial, his uncle testified that Nailenge called him to tell him he had killed his girlfriend.
The accused’s flatmate allegedly also received a similar call from Nailenge on the date in question.
His uncle eventually notified the police and they all met at the grisly scene.
Nailenge’s uncle further testified he visited him at the police station after his arrest.
During his visit, Nailenge fully confessed to the murder.
During his section 119 plea in the Oshakati Magistrate’s Court, Nailenge admitted guilt.
Nailenge confessed to killing Nandjato by beheading her after a quarrel over a baby he fathered with another woman.
It was his testimony that he first stabbed Nandjato in the chest with a knife, before slitting her throat.
After the heinous crime, Nailenge fled the scene with the victim’s cellular phone but was arrested in Epoko village.
Nailenge’s case has been postponed to 26 April 2021 for a case management conference hearing.
– mamakali@nepc.com.na