ONGWEDIVA – An employee of Ondonga Traditional Authority who was allegedly forced to drink poison by three men who broke into his room at Onethindi on Sunday is out of Intensive Care Unit (ICU) and is now recuperating in hospital.
The victim is currently on the mend at the Onandjokwe Intermediate Hospital.
According to those familiar with the case, the 30-year-old Barakias Kunasha was left for dead after three men allegedly forced him to ingest something that had a pungent smell.
New Era understands there were two bottles cap found in his room with one of them half-filled with a suspected Jeyes Fluid.
Kunasha allegedly attempted to seek for help but fell in front of his rented room where he was discovered by his landlord the same night.
He was rushed to the Onandjokwe Intermediate Hospital and was admitted at a ward on Sunday before he was taken into ICU on Monday.
Police Regional Commander in Oshikoto Region Armas Shivute has confirmed that case CR33/3/2019 administering of poison was opened and an investigation into the matter is ongoing.
Kunasha said the men held his arms, legs and head and forced him to seat upright and eventually poured the drink in his mouth.
He said he could not recognise the men because they wore balaclava masks and gloves.
“I did not hear them come in as I was fast asleep, when they broke into the room. I only woke up when they were already holding me,” Kunasha said.
He said he now has pain from the mouth to the stomach.
Those in the know claim that prior to the poison incident a young man, whose identity is known to the police allegedly, visited the place where Kunasha rents and asked to be shown his room. Those who were present allegedly refused to show him and asked him to contact Kunasha himself.
“When the people asked that they use his cellphone to contact Kunasha the man refused and he requested them not to mention that he came looking for him,” a source said.
His mother Tresia Shipanga said she is happy to see her son alive.
“However, we are still scared because we do not know what the enemy is planning. If possible we want to have him guarded and would not want him to be visited at all,” said Shipanga.
Last year, Kunasha and four other employees who at the time were employed by the Ondonga Traditional authority was also allegedly subjected to strip and an unlawful body search by the police on the instruction of the Ondonga Traditional Authority Secretary Nepando Amupanda.
The group has since opened a case of crimen injuria and unlawful body search against the secretary of Ondonga Traditional Authority OTA and some police officers from Oshana police.
The alleged degrading body search led the group to be searched on their genitals as well as an anus search.
The search was allegedly done to establish the whereabouts of the missing key to the safe that had allegedly gone missing at the office.
The case is allegedly set to come to court in April this year.