OMUTHIYA – A drinking spree between cousins ended tragically when a 19-year-old man was stabbed to death on Tuesday night following an argument over a cigarette.
The incident happened around 21h20 at Kuvikiland informal settlement in Tsumeb.
Oshikoto regional crime investigation coordinator, Deputy Commissioner Naomi Katjiua, confirmed the incident.
According to preliminary information the two cousins were walking back home together after having few drinks at the location. However, as they came closer to the house, the 17-year-old male suspect asked the deceased Ricky Heibeb to share a cigarette but the victim refused.
“The deceased refused and slapped the suspect with an open hand on the cheek. This angered the suspect who then pulled out a kitchen knife he was carrying on his waist and stabbed Heibeb in the left chest, and he died on the spot,” revealed Katjiua.
The suspect was arrested and was expected to appear in the magistrate’s court in Tsumeb on Wednesday. The deceased’s next of kin have already been informed.
In another matter, the police at Tsintsabis opened a case of culpable homicide after two people died when the motor vehicle, N201466W, they were travelling in rammed into a cow, killing both the driver and the passenger on the spot.
The incident happened Tuesday night on the Tsintsabis-Bravo road. The deceased were identified as driver Joseph Rumayi Joseph, 42, and passenger Mako Katoti Kababu, 65. Their bodies were taken to the Tsumeb state hospital for a post-mortem.