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Police deny escape cover-up

Home Crime and Courts Police deny escape cover-up

Windhoek

The police have denied any conspiracy of a cover-up in last month’s escape of a trial-awaiting prisoner from the Windhoek Police Station.

The police only announced the escape on Tuesday, a day before Charles Namiseb, 34, was to return to the High Court yesterday for sentencing.

Namiseb walked out of the holding cells of the Windhoek Police Station on Monday, February 29, on the very day that the High Court convicted him on charges of robbery, rape, theft and assault with intent to cause grievous bodily harm.
Constable Festus Shihepo, 32, is alleged to have ‘aided’ Namiseb to escape.

It is alleged that upon Namiseb’s return to the holding cells from the High Court he falsely informed Constable Shihepo, who was on duty at the time, that the High Court had granted him bail and he was free to go.

Namiseb and Edwin Tourob were convicted of assaulting and robbing an elderly couple at Uis in the Erongo Region on October 3, 2010 and also of raping the 69-year-old woman.

“No, it was not the strategy of the Namibian Police Force to wait until the accused was due to return to court,” Inspector Slogan Matheus from the Police Public Relations Department said yesterday.

Matheus explained that on the day the police discovered that Namiseb fled from custody “we launched an immediate manhunt in order to track and rearrest him”.

“We followed up on every little piece of information, and we searched far and wide, thus our prime search took us a few days, and it still continues. However, at this moment we considered it appropriate for us to intensify our search and thereby also request public assistance to trace the fugitive,” Matheus added.

A police source said Shihepo could be charged depending on the evidence.
Shihepo was arrested on March 2 and appeared in the Windhoek Magistrate’s Court on March 4 on charges of obstructing and defeating the course of justice. He was granted bail of N$3 000.

The case was postponed to May 16 for further police investigations.
Disciplinary proceedings are underway “to consider the member’s suitability to remain in the Namibian Police Force”, Tuesday’s statement availed to the media read.

Namiseb is yet to be re-captured since he walked out of the holding cells at the end of February and the police are appealing to the public for assistance in tracing his whereabouts.

The public are advised not to attempt to arrest the fugitive by themselves but should rather report his whereabouts to the nearest police station.

Any person with information on the whereabouts of Namiseb is requested to contact Chief Inspector John Mwatongwe at 064-219044, or alternatively at 081-2461121, or report to the nearest police station.

Chadian-born Adoum Yakhoub, who stands accused of housebreaking and theft, and who allegedly escaped from the Windhoek Police Station last June, has also not yet been rearrested.

It is understood Yakhoub was brought in for questioning in connection with a new charge of theft under false pretences, when he disappeared on June 15 2015.