By John Muyamba

RUNDU - Two Grade 7 learners appeared in the Rundu Magistrate’s Court yesterday on two counts of murder for killing a young mother and her son.

The two accused – Kambinda Lucas, 19, and Katombera Daniel, 18, are pupils at Pandureni Primary School in Masivi village.

The school is situated opposite the shebeen where the murders were committed either late on Monday night or early Tuesday morning.

Kadana Laurencia, 35, and her son Samwere Thomas, 6, died after being hacked with an axe in the shack where they were sleeping next to the shebeen where she worked as a bar attendant.

The deceased mother of two children worked at ‘Ndina Shebeen No 2’, and lived as a backyard tenant on the premises of the shebeen. 

Initially the police said the boy was four years old but yesterday they said he was six years.

The double murder at Masivi, a village where dagga and alcohol abuse are rife, brings to four the number of people murdered this year alone. Masivi is located in Kavango West east of Rundu.

One primary schoolboy was also this year beaten to death allegedly by his father for stealing money from a neighbour and a woman was stabbed to death allegedly by her husband.

“This village is affected by drugs, people especially the youth are smoking dagga and this is a serious concern,” said a primary school principal one Hamutenya.

The two accused who have gained notoriety for the burglary of shebeens at Masivi among other acts of delinquency appeared before Magistrate Esme Molefe, while Albert Titus prosecuted.

Their case was postponed to17 September for further police investigations and to enable the accused to apply for legal aid.

Due to the gravity and seriousness of the charges that they face and considering investigations are still at an infant stage the two were denied bail.

The two teenagers were arrested on Tuesday after being identified by one child who miraculously escaped the slaughter. Their bloodstained clothes also betrayed their guilt.