Man accused of faking crash to claim insurance released on N$10 000 bail

A 39-year-old man arrested in Ongwediva for allegedly deliberately damaging his own car and attempting to defraud his insurance company has been released on N$10 000 bail.

Sheetekela Mateus, from Old Ongwediva, appeared in the Oshakati Magistrate’s Court on Friday. His case has been postponed to 20 August for further police investigation.

Fredrick Ndjadila, who recently headed the Oshana Police Crime Investigation Unit before being transferred to Windhoek, said the suspect reported the incident at the Ongwediva Police Station on 24 December.

Mateus reportedly told police that his Volkswagen Polo had been involved in a crash near Omhalanga Mills at around 01:50. He said he was driving towards Omhalanga Mills when the bright headlights of an oncoming vehicle temporarily blinded him, causing him to swerve off the road and crash into a tree.

However, police investigations revealed Mateus’s account was untrue.

Ndjadila said the accused had deliberately driven his vehicle into the tree twice, apparently in an attempt to stage an accident and claim insurance.

“CCTV footage was collected whereby the accused was observed hitting the car into the tree twice while there was another car standing near the scene.  There was no oncoming vehicle at the time of the incident, as the accused alleged,” Ndjadila said.

Ndjadila added that investigators also noted that the accident was only reported to the police at around 09:00, several hours after it allegedly occurred, and after the vehicle had already been removed from the scene.