2016-12-13Staff Report 2 Walvis Bay A 28-year-old Walvis Bay resident faces a double charge of attempted murder following a failed murder and suicide attempt at the coastal town, where she on Friday reportedly tried to kill her two minor children by forcing them to drink a concoction of anti-retroviral (ARV) drugs. The incident happened at the family’s home along Johannes Nampula Street, where the suspect’s children (the youngest is one year old and the other nine years and nine months old) were made to drink the ARV concoction. All three victims are being treated at Walvis Bay State Hospital. The woman, whose identity is withheld to protect the identities of her minor children, allegedly dissolved the ARVs in water and gave it to her children to drink, before she consumed her own concoction. It is not clear at this stage whether any other substance was added to the ARVs. Chief Inspector Detective Erastus Iikuyu said the woman after taking the concoction sent text messages to family and friends, explaining why she was committing suicide and murdering her children. “She in the text message told the family that the father of the children does not want to take responsibility, nor does he want to financially assist the children and that she was tired of struggling to make ends meet,” Iikuyu explained. He added that a family member who received the text message from the desperate mother responded swiftly and informed the police, who rushed to the house where they found the mother and her children. “Upon arrival we realised that they had already consumed the concoction – judging from the state they were in,” Iikuyu said, adding that they immediately summoned an ambulance and rushed the mother and children to Walvis Bay State Hospital, where they immediately received medical attention. The mother and her children are in a serious, but stable condition and are being closely monitored. “It is not clear at this stage if she was still in a relationship with the children’s father and whether they were cohabiting,” Iikuyu said on Sunday. Iikuyu could also not say whether the ARVs belonged to her, as she still had to be questioned. “The children might be taken away and placed with relatives or at a safe home based on the findings of our investigation and the fact that she is now an attempted murder suspect,” he said. He said the Woman and Child Protection Unit of the Namibian police is dealing with the matter, given that minor children are involved. 2016-12-13Staff Report 2
