Kenyan Held Over Grootfontein Murder

Home Archived Kenyan Held Over Grootfontein Murder

By Surihe Gaomas and Anna Shilongo

WINDHOEK

A Kenyan male nurse is being interrogated by Namibian detectives after he was arrested in connection with body parts suspected to belong to his missing spouse. The remains were found dumped in the Grootfontein area last month.

The dismembered body parts, which were found in black plastic bags in Grootfontein about a month ago, were earlier wrongly identified as those of Jacoba Wilma Olivier.

Confirming the latest arrest to New Era yesterday, spokesperson of the Namibian Police, Chief Inspector Angula Amulungu, said: “No charges have been made yet against this person although he is a suspect in the murder case. Yes, he is a Kenyan national.”

The suspect was appa-rently reluctant to speak during interrogation and could thus not be brought before court.

“He should have done some confession in order to go to court, he is still a suspect based on the information,” said Amulungu.

He could, however, not comment further stating that he was waiting for a written report from the Grootfontein Regional Commander stating all the suspect’s particulars.

“This is a serious case and we cannot base information on hearsay, it will be better if you wait for the written report,” he stressed.

The Kenyan suspect was arrested at 10h00 on Tuesday. The police are, however. unable to give more information on the case as it is currently under investigation.

The Kenyan nurse reportedly worked at the Groot-fontein State Hospital.

He was reported to have been staying with his Kenyan wife at the nurses’ home in Grootfontein.

He came into the country through recruitment of Kenyan nurses and has been under State employment for several months.

Sources at the nurses’ home claim the suspect’s wife went missing on September 14. On September 17 dismembered body parts were discovered near Grootfontein Hospital, the same day the suspect took leave from work claiming that he was going to look for his wife in Kenya. But when he returned without his wife, people quizzed him about her whereabouts. This raised further questions on the murder case, leading to his arrest.

Police had also inquired with the Immigration Office to ascertain whether the suspect and his wife ever left the country, but no such records could be found.

It is suspected that the Kenyan nurse was somewhere in the country during his leave.

Sources informed New Era that the suspect and his wife, who was visiting at the time, had been having marital problems since July and had frequently been in and out of the police station over the matter.

The couple is said to be in their mid-thirties.