Eveline de Klerk
WALVIS BAY – With police heavily criticised for allegedly ignoring desperate pleas to protect a family whose five members were eventually bludgeoned to death by one of their own, the Inspector-General of the Namibian Police Force (Nampol), Lieutenant-General Sebastian Ndeitunga, has ordered an investigation into the killings.
An 18-year-old family member, whom the family says is mentally disturbed, was arrested for the heinous murderous spree at Ndama location in Rundu. The killings took place between Saturday evening and the wee hours of Sunday.
Ndeitunga, who was attending to police matters in Walvis Bay yesterday, told New Era he has not yet received an official report about the incident in which the suspect allegedly killed his grandmother, sister and three nephews.
Early on Saturday, a relative reported the suspect to the police for violent behaviour, but police did not attend to the matter, claiming there was no transport.
Police have received a backlash from the angry public after it came to light that the suspect’s aunt had sought police assistance earlier in the day. The aunt was also assaulted by the suspect after he became aware that she visited the police to report his violent behaviour.
She was forced to seek medical attention due to her injuries inflicted by the suspect and had to go back to the police station, for the second time, to get a police statement with which she could receive treatment at hospital.
She only returned home on Saturday evening and locked herself in her room and slept.
She woke up the next morning and went to the main house only to make the gruesome discovery that her fiver relatives were bludgeoned to death.
“I cannot comment whether the police were negligent or not as I still do not have the full details of what transpired prior to the murder and how it was reported by the relative when she went to the police station,” Ndeitunga told New Era yesterday.
He, however, said that he expected the report to be at his desk later this week and only then would he address the matter.
Meanwhile, Nampol issued a statement yesterday afternoon stating that the suspect, who is reportedly mentally challenged and a suspected drug (cannabis) user, assaulted his grandmother, his mother and his three nephews with a stick, kllling them instantly.
According to Nampol, the motive behind the suspect’s action is allegedly money, which he demanded earlier during the day. However, money was not granted to him and as a result he assaulted the sister.
The sister reported the matter to the police and that agitated the suspect who then assaulted his family, killing them instantly.
The deceased’s full names were not yet confirmed. The suspect is expected to appear in the Rundu Magistrate’s Court today.