Day: April 8, 2024

OSHAKATI: A resident of Ongwediva and owner of the Khomas Bearing Suppliers, Rene Strauss, aged 48, reportedly committed suicide on Sunday evening. Confirming the incident to Nampa on Monday, Namibian Police Force (NamPol) Oshana's Community Policing Sub-division Chief Inspector Thomas Aiyambo said, the incident reportedly happened at 18h20, when the deceased hanged himself with a rope in his office. 'He did not leave a suicide note,' he said. Meanwhile, the lifeless body of 18-year-old Valombola Jason Nghihangakenwa was found hanging in a bedroom on Friday at about 12h00 at Onakango-Endola constituency in the Ohangwena region. According to a NamPol weekend crime report on Sunday, it is alleged that the deceased hanged himself with a blue plastic rope around his neck. It is further alleged that before this incident, the deceased on Wednesday set his sleeping room on fire and in the process, another room in the house also caught fire causing both rooms to burn to ashes. 'The body was transported to Engela District State Hospital, where it was certified dead by a medical doctor and placed in the State Mortuary for postmortem examination. No foul play is suspected and no suicide note was found on him,' the report reads. Police investigations in both matters continue. Source: The Namibia Press Agency

WINDHOEK: An employee of Bank Windhoek's Maerua Mall branch in the capital, Iyaloo Tumweneni Hanyangha, died while on duty on Friday, shortly after complaining of feeling unwell. According to a weekend crime report issued by the Namibian Police Force (NamPol) on Sunday, 35-year-old Hanyangha said she felt like collapsing around 16h05 and left her duty station at the front desk to go to the back of the office. She was observed falling and colleagues attended to her while an ambulance was called. Despite a prompt response by the ambulance, Hanyangha was pronounced dead at 16h11. Her next of kin were informed and the body was taken to the police mortuary. In a separate incident, the decomposed remains of 39-year-old Rochard Benson Steyn were found in his backyard room at his grandmother's house in Gibeon around 12h00 on Friday. Steyn was last seen on Wednesday when he went out. On Friday the family got suspicious about a bad odour coming from his room and upon inspection saw his body lying on the bed and c ontacted the police. No foul play is suspected at this stage and the cause of death is unknown, but a postmortem examination will be conducted. In a similar incident, the lifeless body of Haipinge Eradius Linekela (age unknown) was discovered around 12h00 on Friday in the Goreangab dam informal settlement area of Windhoek. The crime report indicated that Linekela's body was found hanging from the roof of his shack by his brother. No suicide note was found. Source: The Namibia Press Agency

KEETMANSHOOP: A one-year-and five-month-old baby girl reportedly drowned in a 20-litre container of water at Rosh Pinah on Saturday. Namibian Police Force (NamPol) crime investigations coordinator for ||Kharas region, Deputy Commissioner, Nikodemus Mbango in a crime report on Sunday said the incident occurred on Saturday between 12h00 and 13h00 in the Tutungeni residential area at the mining town. The deceased was identified as Valentina Mazambo and her next of kin are aware of her death. Meanwhile, police at Keetmanshoop are investigating a rape case after a 56-year-old man allegedly raped a 21-year-old woman who is his son's girlfriend. The incident happened on Sunday morning between 01h00 and 02h00 at the Kronlein residential area, when the suspect unlawfully and intentionally had sexual intercourse with the complainant at his place of residence without her consent. 'The victim is in a relationship with the suspect's son, who was arrested on Thursday and is in custody at the Keetmanshoop holding cells . The suspect took advantage of his son's absence and committed the act on the victim, who came to visit the boyfriend from Aranos. The suspect and the son are living at the residence,' said the commissioner. Mbango added that it is further alleged that the suspect gave the victim a knife to stab him to death otherwise he would stab her, which frightened the victim and submitted herself to the sexual intercourse. The suspect is yet to be arrested. Source: The Namibia Press Agency

WINDHOEK: A former police officer attached to the Women and Child Protection Unit in Keetmanshoop is set to plead guilty to the murder of his ex-girlfriend, in the Windhoek High Court on Tuesday. The accused, Brian Plaatjie appeared briefly before Judge Dinah Usiku on Monday. His lawyer, Boris Isaacks indicated that Plaatjie will be pleading guilty. He is accused of fatally stabbing Yvette Louw, the mother of his two children, multiple times during the period 25 to 26 June 2021. The deceased, according to the indictment was at home with her then boyfriend, enjoying a meal when Plaatjie stormed in. The State further alleges that the deceased's boyfriend was also stabbed multiple times but survived the ordeal. Plaatjie is said to have reported the matter to the police himself and the victim died shortly after arriving at hospital. The accused faces six charges - housebreaking with intent to murder and murder, attempted murder, two counts of contravening a protection order, assault by threat and malicious dama ge to property. It is alleged that Louw had ended the relationship with Plaatjie two years before her murder and subsequently moved out of the home the two shared. 'Due to ongoing assaults and threats by the accused, the deceased applied for and obtained a final protection order against the accused on 07 August 2020, which was valid until 07 August 2022. During the evening of 07 May 2021 and in contravention of the order, the accused arrived at the deceased's residence and insulted and threatened her with violence. This caused her to flee and seek shelter at a neighbour's house. He damaged her television set and left the scene,' the indictment states. Louw, according to the State opened a criminal case regarding the incident, leading to Plaatjie's arrest. He was released on bail and went to the deceased's house on the evening of 25 June 2021, when he allegedly pounced on her and her boyfriend. Source: The Namibia Press Agency

WINDHOEK: Fourteen people have claimed to have been scammed of a collective N.dollars 1 264 700 after failure to secure vehicles they ostensibly bought online. The group has now mobilised on a WhatsApp group titled 'Aili's victims' in pursuit to collectively seek justice. They say they individually deposited money as customers to purchase desired vehicles through the alleged Aili Magano Paulus companies, AMP Trading and ICM Japanese Trading that orders vehicles from Japan via the Walvis Bay harbour. Nine of the alleged 14 victims provided documentary evidence as proof that they paid N.dollars 793 500 for the vehicles. Nampa has also seen that the nine people opened cases of fraud with the Namibian Police Force (NamPol) against Paulus between 2021 and 2024. Speaking to Nampa last week, the group's spokesperson, Karolien Louw whose documents show that she is owed N.dollars 320 000, stressed that since 2021, she has been fighting to recover her money with the involvement of lawyers and NamPol, however all ef forts since have proved futile. 'I am disappointed and hurt. I can't believe that one person can tell so many lies… I initially made a post on Facebook on her page, ICM Japanese Trading, and that is where the people started contacting me telling me that they have also been defrauded by her and so forth. It is just shocking that people have no conscience to steal from people like that,' she fumed. Louw said the money she had deposited was meant to buy two vehicles, a Mercedes and Audi for her and her mother after she sold her house in Rehoboth. 'The worst thing for me is that I took the money from my mother and she is a pensioner… She sold her house for me to get that money… And Aili always plays the victim when you try to enquire about your money. The other day when I asked about my money she told me about her brother that has died and the last time is that she was going to commit suicide… it's all lies. I hope someone will learn out of this and be more cautious,' she said. Another alleged victim, Frieda Nafindi from Walvis Bay who indicated that she is owed N.dollars 116 000 by Paulus narrated that she was introduced to the suspect by her cousin following intentions to buy a new car in 2021. 'I sold my car and wanted to buy a new one and after being introduced to her as someone that orders cars for people, I deposited N.dollars 110 000 into Aili's account after confirming that she had found my desired vehicle,' she said. Nafindi said after a few weeks, Paulus claimed another N.dollars 36 000 bringing the total purchase for a Tiguan to N.dollars 146 000, stressing that since the money was paid, Paulus never delivered the vehicle and had since been avoiding, insulting and refusing to pay back the money. 'I involved my lawyer in the issue and managed to recover only N.dollars 30 000 and since then I also opened up a case with the police but nothing has been done to date and she still owes me money,' Nafindi stressed. She said the issue has left her depressed to the extent of almost wanting to commit suicide due to humiliation from her family and work peers - that she was scammed and is now walking as a result of being carless. Mercel Tense who is owed N.dollars 34 000, aired frustration that the legal system is failing consumers in cases of scammers, noting that even though many cases have been opened, nothing has been done to ensure that they recover their monies. 'It has been three years now for me fighting to get my money back or something. It seems like there is no legislation or direct approach from the legal side to deal with people of this nature that are scamming people. Even though we have contracts signed and proof of payment for the purchases, failure always comes on grounds of technicality in the courts and this is what is frustrating everyone - that nothing can be done to recover their money,' he stressed. Warrant Silas Shipandeni of NamPol in the Khomas Region confirmed that seven cases have been opened against Paulus in Windhoek, noting that most of the cases are still under investigation while about four are before the Katutura and Windhoek Magistrate's courts where she had appeared on numerous occasions. 'The public is advised to carefully consider and do proper background checks when buying vehicles online before depositing their hard earned money. The public is also advised to always reach out to the police for proper screening and background checks to see if the alleged seller of vehicles is not either wanted by police or in conflict with the law concerning their business,' he noted. Meanwhile, responding to Nampa over the weekend, Paulus said she is currently in contact with all clients whom she owes and is refunding them gradually. Paulus explained that she was unable to deliver the vehicles upon being jailed for seven months following failure to deliver a customer's vehicle, which had left her bankrupt, resulting in non-delivery of clients' vehicles. 'My business is a registered business, I was delivering as I started with it. The only problem that caused my business to go down is when o ne of my clients who was impatient went to open a case and I was arrested so my business went down and some of the cars that I purchased ended up being sold… And some of the deposit I sent to Japan I lost and from there, when I came out it was like I am starting over with my business and it's difficult for me,' she narrated. 'I am not sure how many people I am owing because right now I have my own brother who passed away, so I cannot know because I don't have my book here, but some of the people I have started to refund them,' she said. Source: The Namibia Press Agency