Commissioner of refugees Likius Valombola, who is accused of shooting student leader Helao Ndjaba (25) in the head in Windhoek’s Ombili during 2018, has denied that he fired at the victim.
The 57-year-old Valombola vehemently denied that he aimed his pistol at the group of people who were gathered at the scene when he and his family arrived at Ombili’s King Kauluma Street on 18 May 2018.
According to him, he fired in the air after he and his wife and son were accosted by a group of “aggressive and unruly boys” when they were forced to stop by a vehicle that was parked in the road.
Testifying in his own defence yesterday before Windhoek High Court Judge Claudia Claasen, Valombola said they were on their way home at around 23h30 and were driving along Omuvapo Street in the direction of King Kauluma Street when they came across a stationary sedan vehicle with all four doors open that was blocking their lane. His son, who was driving, got out to ask the people – a group of between six and eight boys to move their car, he said.
According to Valombola, he followed his son, and he heard the boys who were standing with glasses of alcohol and bottles insulting his son. When he asked them politely, he said, to please remove the car, they told him “we are not parked in your mother’s road.”
Valombola further said that the group became aggressive and used foul language and he told his son that they should go back to their car. When they reached his car, he noticed that some of the boys had followed them and three were banging on the passenger door while another two were banging on the driver’s side.
“Afraid for me and my family’s lives, I reached for my pistol that was in my bag on the backseat, wound down the window halfway and fired one shot in the air,” he said.
“The boys were, however, still banging on the door and after about 10 seconds, I fired another shot in the air which gave my son the opportunity to reverse and then drove away from there.”
He said they then went home and about an hour later, he received a call from a police officer who told him that someone was shot and asked about his whereabouts.
He emphatically denied he knew anyone was hit when he fired the shots and stressed that he fired the shots into the air.
Valombola is free on bail of N$15 000 he was granted three days after the incident.
He is represented by Sisa Namandje, instructed by Nambili Mhata, and the State by Ethel Ndlovu.