Ongwediva
A 39-year-old man was arrested yesterday for the alleged killing of his former wife. He reportedly slit her throat on Sunday at Oshuundi village in Okalongo constituency in the Omusati Region.
According to Deputy Commissioner Bonifatius Kanyetu, who is the Omusati regional crime coordinator, the couple married in 2006 but split two years later.
The deceased, Nangula Haileka, 38, decided to go back to her parents’ home where she was apparently hunted down by her former husband
Kanyetu said the suspect was a known spousal abuser and a case of domestic violence was opened by the victim at the Women and Child Protection Unit at Oshakati several years ago, but what is in doubt is how seriously the police unit treated the threats.
According to police sources the marriage only lasted for two years because it was hellish, bitter, abusive and highly quarelsome.
“The church was also involved and the woman was taken back to her mother’s place,” said Kanyetu.
Kanyetu said the marriage was so acrimonious that it left the victim mentally scarred.
The suspect is a bricklayer and he was contracted at the home of the deceased at the time of the tragic incident.
The two had two children – a boy and a girl aged seven and ten years, respectively.
On Sunday the suspect allegedly visited the deceased at her mother’s home where she was staying and went into her room.
Kanyetu said that when the suspect left, a 14-year-old girl went into the victim’s room, only to find that her throat had been slit. She lay in a pool of blood.
“An elder sister rushed to the headman’s village to look for help after they discovered the sister’s body in a pool of blood but still breathing. However, she already found the suspect there telling the headman that his ex-wife was not feeling well, and that he doubted if the relative would see her alive,” said a witness.
Villagers called the police and when they arrived at the scene the suspect was present but he later disappeared.
He was arrested in the village where he was trying to hide.
The 14-year-old had left the victim Haileka at home with her ex-husband to give them a chance to be alone with each other but upon her return home she was alerted by the strange noise of Haileka breathing with difficulty after her throat had been slit.
She went to call her older sister who then ran and screamed for help.
According to Sergeant Heskiel Hamalwa at Outapi, the suspect initially hailed from Omutundungu village. He was contracted as a builder at the deceased’s village and the couple were at times seen together.
The suspect will appear in court today to be charged with murder.
Since the beginning of this year the police in Omusati have ecorded four cases of intimate relationship killings. The last such incident involved a schoolteacher who reportedly shot dead his girlfriend, who was also a schoolteacher at Okalongo.