NDIYONA – Police authorities in the Kavango East region are investigating an incident in which an off-duty police officer was run over by a truck in the early hours of Friday at Ndiyona. 

The deceased, identified as constable Laurentius Haingura (39) died on the spot.

According to a police report, it is believed that the deceased appeared to be mentally unstable hours before the accident that took his life on Friday morning at approximately 04h50 at Ndiyona settlement on the Trans Caprivi highway.

“The deceased was allegedly bumped and overran by a truck that was travelling from west to east. The driver failed to stop the vehicle after the accident and failed to render assistance to the injured person,” said the police in its weekly crime report.

“The deceased is a member of the Namibian Police force stationed at Ndiyona police station working as a charge office shift commander, who reported for night shift duty with his colleague the previous night (Thursday 20 October 2022) at about 21h45 as usual. After receiving the handing over from the previous shift, he took out a service pistol from the charge office safe, went outside and fired two rounds in the air as confirmed by his shift member,” read the report.

According to police, a senior officer on standby was informed of his behaviour and went to the station to assess the situation and noticed that his mental state was not fit for duty.

He was then released to go back to his accomodation.

The senior officer then proceeded to Kangwere village, approximately seven kilometres from the station to inform the officer’s parents of his behaviour and that they suspect he was not mentally fit. 

“Prior to his demise, the senior officer on duty received a call from a female tenant residing at the same flats as Haingura, who complained about his behaviour as he was playing loud music the whole night, walking up and down randomly and his shower was running throughout the night. He was allegedly spotted leaving the compound by exiting through the main gate heading to the tarred road,” said the police report.

The fellow tenant requested that the police go and restrain the member immediately. They responded to the call and went to the road to look for him.

However, they found the deceased’s lifeless body on the road suspected to have been bumped and overran by a vehicle.

“The suspected truck driver was traced and it was discovered that he had reported himself about the accident at Divundu police check point, about 80km from the accident scene. He identified himself as a 39-year-old Zambian male from Chililebombwe, Copperbelt province. He was arrested and was expected to appear in the Rundu Magistrate’s Court on Monday,” the police said.

The deceased’s next of kin were informed.