Windhoek
The North is reeling in shock and disbelief after an 18-year-old man allegedly shot and killed a 92-year-old woman yesterday at Onelago village in Oshana Region.
It is alleged that the 18-year-old suspect, whom villagers say is mentally disturbed, is a neighbour to the deceased – who was identified as Sabina Shilomboleni.
Villagers say the suspect had been complaining that the elderly woman always verbally abused him when he passed by her house.
“The suspect mentioned that every time he passed by the old woman’s house she insulted him with reference to his mother,” said Oshana regional police deputy commissioner, Karel Theron.
“So this morning (yesterday), he told other villagers that he would kill the old lady because he was tired of being insulted,” he added.
According to Theron, the suspect allegedly stole his uncle’s shotgun with which he proceeded to the homestead of the woman who lived alone.
He then sneaked around and first hid behind her pit latrine which is not far from the house. He started peeping through the huts to see where the old woman was, said Theron.
“He moved into the house and went behind the hut and mud rooms and then he saw her busy pounding mahangu. He went straight to her and shot her dead from close range. She died of a single bullet wound.
“When I arrived at the scene, the mahangu and all her traditional baskets were still there,” the regional deputy police chief said.
After the suspect killed her, he fled the scene but a villager managed to confiscate the murder weapon from him. The villagers called the police who then effected the arrest.
He is expected to appear in the Oshakati Magistrate’s Court on a charge of murder.
In an unrelated incident, a 42-year-old woman was found dead in her bedroom in Ongwediva on Wednesday.
It is alleged that the deceased, Linea Jacob, who lived alone in her rented flat was found lifeless on her bed after her work colleagues became worried about her not pitching up for work since Monday.
It was reported that her colleagues became more concerned when her phone went unanswered and they then decided to go to her place where they discovered her corpse lying on her bed.
The deceased is said to have been regularly sickly.
“We don’t know the exact cause of her death, but the post-mortem will help us find out,” Theron said.
Jacob originated from Ekamba village in Oshana Region.