Staff Reporter
THE Namibian police at Ongwediva have arrested a 39-year-old suspect who allegedly deliberately damaged his own vehicle and then went on to claim from his insurer.
According to the police, the suspect turned up at the Ongwediva police station on 24 December 2025 to report an alleged accident involving his Volkswagen Polo, which occurred near the Omhalanga Mills at around 01:50 that day.
The suspect alleged that he was driving towards Omhalanga Mills when the bright lights of an oncoming vehicle temporarily blinded him, causing him to swerve to the left out of harm’s way, but in the process, his car crashed into a nearby tree.
However, investigators have found that the driver’s story was fabricated and that he intentionally crashed his car into the tree — not once, but twice — with the purpose of defrauding the insurance company.
In CCTV footage, the suspect could be observed hitting the car into the tree twice, said the police, adding that there was no oncoming car at the time of the incident, as the suspect alleged.
The police pointed out another irregularity, namely that the accident, which allegedly occurred around 01:50, was only reported to the police at around 09:00 after the suspect had already removed the car from the scene.
