RUNDU - Taking a cue from the Ndama massacre that claimed five lives after police officers failed to act following a complaint, the magistrate at Rundu meted out a three-year jail sentence on 29-year-old Johannes Hamutenya from Safari location in the town for threatening to harm his family members.

Hamutenya was jailed last Thursday after he was found guilty of assault by threat read with the provisions of the Domestic Violence Act, Act 4 of 2003.

Hamutenya was arrested on August 7 after he assaulted his parents whom he also threatened and poured petrol on his father’s car, wanting to burn it, but they reported him to the police who immediately arrested him and took him into custody. 
“In this case both parents of the accused testified but they did not say that they hate the accused person, they just showed fear. They said they will only enjoy peace if the accused is in custody as the accused enjoys torturing them,” said Rundu Magistrate Vivian Ndlovu before handing down the sentence.

Testimonies of the accused’s parents were that there would be no peace at home if the accused was not in custody as the family feel threatened and unsafe and they want him to be rehabilitated.

According to the magistrate no normal person will enjoy referring to what happened to the family in Ndama where five family members were killed by another family member, after they reported to the police that they were under threat, but did not get assistance, leading to the massacre.

Public Prosecutor Helvi Gorases asked the court to sentence the accused to two years’ imprisonment but the magistrate handed down three years.

In a separate court incident,  23-year-old Bethlomeus Kanumbo was sentenced to a month imprisonment, or to pay a N$500 fine, for being in possession of five grams of cannabis seeds worth N$50. Kanumbo was arrested in Augus.
He appeared before Magistrate Ndlovu while Helvi Gorases prosecuted.