Placido Hilukilwa
THE case in which more than thirty suspects were arrested by the police at Ondukuta village in the Omusati Region in July 2019 following a mob attack on three residents, has not yet been finalized.
They were arrested for attacking three people – two men and one woman – whom they suspected of having poisoned another villager, Joseph Shiningayamwe Embula, who died at the Tsandi district hospital on 4 July 2019.
“Investigation into the case is still ongoing,” said the police’s regional crime investigations coordinator, Deputy Commissioner Malakia Simaho.
The 31 suspects were initially denied bail when they made their first appearance in Outapi magistrate’s court on 22 July 2019 but were eventually granted bail and charges against some of them were dropped.
According to Simaho, only two of the original group of suspects are currently standing trial on charges of malicious damage to property, assault, and theft.
It all started when the 26-year-old Embula fell ill while socializing at a certain shebeen and was taken to hospital where he died on 4 July.
Even though the death certificate stated that it was a natural death, Embula’s relatives suspected that he was poisoned. They fingered three residents, accusing them of possessing deadly poison responsible for the death of several people, including Embula.
The mob, whose brutal actions were caught on video, assaulted the victims demanding that they hand over the deadly poison. A shebeen was dismantled and items found inside were gathered in a pile and set on fire.
The Ondukuta case was practically forgotten, but memories came flooding back when another case of mob justice was reported early this week, this time in the Oshana Region where a suspected burglar, Shuuveni Justus Elago (36), was attacked and beaten to death by angry residents of the Othingo village on the outskirts of Oshakati.
The deceased and two others were allegedly caught in the act of stealing after they broke into a house sometime between 21:00 and 22:00 Monday.
Two of the suspects fled the scene in a getaway vehicle that was parked nearby.
