WINDHOEK – Well-known musician, Whanni Jansen, 65, was robbed of his car, cellphone and trailer on Friday night in Khomasdal by a gang of criminals who accused him of bumping them.
Narrating his ordeal to New Era, a traumatised Jansen said he was returning from Katutura where he went to fetch his trailer, between 22h00 and 23h00 last Friday night.
Close to his home in Khomasdal’s Funky Town a taxi loaded with unknown thugs, with the registration number A34, forced him off the road and accused him of bumping them.
“As soon as I stopped my car, they opened my door and pulled me out and I fell hard on the kerb injuring myself,” said Jansen who was still in shock after what happened a mere kilometre from his home in Khomasdal.
He said when he saw that one of his attackers was trying to remove the keys from his vehicle’s ignition, he managed to somehow get up and remove the keys himself after which a severe wrestle ensued with the five or so youths trying to force the keys from his hand and with him resisting.
“You see, we know that you cannot just lie still and let the criminals have their way,” Jansen told this reporter. But his attackers did manage to force the keys out of his hand and they took his cellphone from his pocket as well.
He somehow managed to get up and tried to run away in the direction of his home.
“Because I injured myself, I could not run and I limped home slowly waiting for them to follow me and finish the job,” he said, adding that thankfully the robbers did not pursue him further and left with their spoils.
They took his car, the trailer, his cellphone and wallet with all his personal documents.
According to Jansen, after he informed his wife and children about the incident, he walked from his home to the Katutura Police Station, a distance of about six kilometres.
After he reported the incident he walked home again from the police station in the early morning.
“I do not remember how I managed to do that and I do not know how I got home,” he said from his home.
Police managed to find his vehicle the next morning, although minus its wheels, and arrested three suspects.
According to Jansen one of the suspects said flat-out: ‘Dis die oom wat ons kar gestamp het’ (this is the uncle who bumped our car) when the police brought him to Jansen’s house on Sunday morning.
Messages of comfort and support have been pouring in on social media after Jansen posted the incident on Sunday and he expressed his profound gratitude to all the well-wishers.
Three suspects are expected to appear in the Katutura Magistrate’s Court today while more arrests are anticipated.
In an unrelated incident police reported an unnamed victim was robbed at gunpoint of his cellphone, cash and jewellery to the value of N$14 000 on March 12 at about 18h30.
It was also reported Shekunyenge Eliaser Hatupopi was robbed of his wallet, a Nampost card, an ID card and a cellphone to the value of N$1 050 at a riverbed in Okuryangava at about 04h45 on March 12.
In another incident of armed robbery, Devine Seta Mundia was robbed of her cellphone worth N$800 at gunpoint at the Windhoek Central Hospital nurses’ home on Saturday.